Those Born in the Light
by taovkool
Summary: They call her the Red Wings. The Prideful Fallen Whom God had Bestowed the Secrets of the Heavens. In truth, she's just a girl trying very, very hard not to fall into Hentai cliches. Raynare OC!SI.
1. Deus Gratia

Once, there was a battlefield.

It was the greatest one there ever was – in a place hidden from mortal views - where the blood of the greatest and the most powerful beings in the world was shed.

Signs of destructions were everywhere. A charred mountain stood, along with a river of magma and a frozen valley. Phenomenons later would be known as black holes stood by the hundred, slowly eating the world at a magnificently slower pace than they ought to. At the top of everything, instead of a sky, electrical spheres of unknown forms covered the world.

Within this dreaded place, four corpses exist. The only ones alive were a girl with raven, black wings and a man... no, a Being that took up the form of a man. No mere man had ichors of gold and gave off a presence such as He.

The girl thought, she was not supposed to be here.

She was not supposed to be born with pure white wings behind her back. She was not supposed to walk among pure white marbles of Heaven. She was not supposed to be look into His eyes and be chosen as one of His favored child. She was not supposed to feel her wings darkened as she deliberately rejected her chosen purpose. She was not supposed to be flinging spears of light and watched it skewer a man. She was not supposed to participate in the greatest war in existence.

Most of all, she was not supposed to be watching Him dying, and yet, somehow she was.

All these were the honest thoughts of a certain girl.

Oblivious to these thoughts – or maybe because He knew precisely what she was thinking – He had greeted her with a smile, as if His dying body, the gaping wounds at His chest and the slowly receding light of His life was nothing but an inconvenience.

And the girl spoke, "I'm not supposed to be here."

"Oh?" the man answered, patiently, curiously, "Why is that?"

"You know exactly what I mean." the girl huffed, some of her siblings would have called it disrespectful, but this was the way she always was whenever she talked to Him, "This isn't my world, and her existence was not mine. I've told you this before."

"And?" the man asked, patiently, curiously.

The girl sighed, feeling intensely awkward at the knowing smile he'd keep shooting her with.

"She'd never gotten this far. Not her, not the real...me. She-I, I'm not supposed to be here."

"Yet, look at what you've done," the man shook his head, this was an old argument repeated all over again. "I'm quite proud of this alternate dimension I made, you know. It was supposed to be an isolation barrier to let me deal with the Four personally. Do tell, how did you slip in?"

"Believe it or not, it was an accident." She lied.

The man laughed at that. A clear, melodic laugh that soothed and confused her at the same time.

"Then you are wrong, Child." the man smiled, "I do not believe in accidents. Fate, on the other hand, was something I'm quite familiar with."

He clearly knew she was lying. Everything made by His hands were not the kind that could be so easily subverted by mere accidents, no matter how bizarre. If it really was, then the laws of physics wold have been jumbled around thousands of years ago.

Even though He knew, He also did not point out her lies. Instead, He just plastered His usual smile and gave out His usual pearls of wisdom. He did not ask her why. He already knew why she did it. He also knew the girl was always a troublemaker who'd always managed to prank and vandalized all of Heaven. Usually involving creative uses of magic. Oh, how He'd really missed those days. Still, who'd have thought she would have end up having a knack on cracking the system's He had made?

"Does that mean this was all part of your plan, then?"

"Not all of it." The man answered simply. "You being here was unexpected. Though not an unwelcome one."

"Really? Considering how much of a brat I was, I don't think I'm really fit to witness your end."

The implication that He planned His own death was not missed by the girl. She ignored it though; she'd always known He'd meet His end in this particular time, in this particular world, and this particular universe.

"On the contrary, I think you're a perfect witness for my end." His smile turned somewhat mischievous. "Your previous life. You were an advocate, yes?"

The girl blinked. "Advocate? The hell's an advocate? I used to be a lawyer way back then, not an..." An incredulous look of confusion entered her face before realization sets in, and then she groaned and looked at the man.

"Your last will?"

He chuckled at her long-suffering look, "Such as it was."

"Damn it." the girl massaged her head, "This is going to be a pain in the ass, I can tell."

"It will be a terrible burden, yes." He nodded, rather sadly this time. "Much heavier than I would ask any Child of mine, perhaps. If you so choose, I could refrain from passing this to you."

The smile had faded from the man, replacing it with a look of determination that no mere Man could ever hope to replicate. It was also a sign of His concern towards this girl whom Fate had thrown into His lap as one of His Children. He was about to place a burden to this lost and fallen girl that He had never given to anyone before in His long, long period of existence.

As if in response to that determination, a heavy presence suddenly looms in the air. It felt as if the entire World had stopped turning and that Time no longer holds any meaning. Such a thing could even be felt outside of this artificial dimension where all participants of the war suddenly ceased fighting. It showed just how significant that His final request would be on the girl. A true testament to the power that this dying being bearing the looks of a man could wield.

Against all that, the girl shrugged nonchalantly.

"Eh, whatever." She waved off his concern and the rolling power she'd felt with a single careless and challenging smile, "What's life without a little risk, anyway?"

For the first time, the man blinked in surprised, and then showed her a dazzling smile.

"That, Raynare, is more reassuring than you know."

A single tear dropped from the eyes of the girl, yet she still smiled. It was a sign of her gratitude and her farewell.

After all, it's best to send off a dying loved one with a smile.

"Empty platitudes were never my style, Father."


	2. Enoch Priory I

It was hard to describe life after I was born. Or reborn. Never really get the proper term.

Many of my siblings described me as a fairly rambunctious angel even when I was only a decade old. Let me state the fact that I was not an Archangel. I'm one of the lowly 'Engel', one of the most "common" types of Angel if such a thing exist. Certainly nowhere near an Archangel rank.

Yet, despite all that, it was no secret that I held a certain favor with Father. He had visited me many times when others on the same rank as I was can barely caught a glimpse of Him. He spent more time with me than checking up on the progress of His newest creation, the humans, or even the Archangels that was supposed to be the ultimate guardian of His throne.

Thanks to that, there were many whispers and looks of envy and wonder thrown my way at times. Not that they even knew what we were talking about. If they did, they... actually, I have no idea what the rest of the Heavenly host would do. Introducing movies, games, manga and anime a few millennia too early seems like a bad idea.

Father seems to like them though. Well, not 'like' and more amused by the very idea, I suppose. Mankind was barely able to make fire and provide for themselves in this day and age, so the idea that one day they'd be able to advance far enough to create moving pictures for entertainment purposes and distribute it to millions of others at different places and at the same time seems to be something He'd be very curious to see.

Not really sure what Father would think of the... uh, 'shadier' aspects of modern entertainment though. Pornography was a lucrative industry for a reason.

Still, the best part was when I got sidetracked on porn and I started talking about the network that is the greatest creation of mankind and the source of their greatest of sin. The image of Father bumbling in confusion to the concept of online dating was hilarious to the extreme. Could it be that I just lured Father to the temptation and the evils that was the Internet?! And I did it before it was even existed?!

Heh, not bad for the girl titled as the 'most' rebellious Angel in Heaven.

Then the entire debacle with Lucifer happens and I've clearly lost my title. Then that debacle was followed by another debacle with Azazel over the Tower of Babel and Azazel got himself a pair of emo black wings.

Heh. Rhymes. Really fun to mess around with.

Anyway, I watched some of my brethren fall after that, each with their own reason to do so. I watched as the mood of my brothers and sisters in Heaven alongside me grown somber with each of our numbers fall, be it by blood or by blackened wings. The Fallen on the other hand began to get organized. Azazel formed ranks and under his guidance, I watched men being tempted and joined his Fallen in Sin. Lucifer was not idle in his chains and he single-handedly started a conquest in Hell to rule the Devil torturers.

I watched as the First Great War began to unfold and knew I had to do something.

So, one day, I came out into courtyard where the commanders of the Heavenly Host held their counsel. All leaders of the middle to high ranked ones were there, the Archangels were all there, and more importantly Father was there. I looked to the place where Father sat on top, overlooking His Children's discussion, His 'Throne' one day it'd be called, and smiled at Him.

I walked right to His direction to the surprise of many. Metatron was about to rebuke me but Father waved him off. He told Michael to suspend the discussion for a moment. That was the first surprise of the day.

The second surprise was the time when I bowed, got down to a knee, and, right in front of all the leaders of Heaven, told Father that I decided to Fall.

I guess it was a bit of a shock for them. I mean, all the Fallen so far had done so when they thought they were out of Father's sight or when none of our fellow angels were around. It was the mark of an outcast and our own personal shame. Something akin to spatting at the face of Father's mercy. To use a twentieth century terminology, it was like picking up a pile of shit, stuff it into a bucket, walked right in when the President was having a speech in front of the cameras with the entire world watching, and then throw that bucket of shit into his face. Imagine that, multiply the bad feeling by nine thousand, and then change the President part with, well... Father.

Not even Lucifer, with his very public castout, would be bold enough to do what I did. I suppose that counts for something.

I remember it being a massive shock to the entire Heaven's Court. Michael was entirely speechless. Gabriel had a horrified look on her face. Metatron suddenly materialized his mighty spear and gripped it in rage. The entire crowd of angels was in an uproar. Some began to yell and denounce me. I heard several shouts of 'what in Heaven's name were you doing?' and 'why are you doing this, Raynare?' Some of the more warlike one, like Kokabiel, got into battle stance and were clearly ready to pounce.

I ignored them all though. Only His reaction mattered.

Father, as I expected, reacted differently. He frowned. He looked at me intently in the eyes.

Then, He laughed.

It was even more of a shock to the angels than my public declaration to Fall. To see Father laughing so loudly, so happily, and so giddily as the brightest sun were rare. He did it once when He created Adam and it brought us all joy. And yet, now He did it again. Not at a time of great glory or at an auspicious moment but when one of His Daughter decided to rebel against Him.

Slowly, I could feel the mood of the angels began to shift. Anger turned into confusion. The murderous looks – I know it's you, Kokabiel – turns into bewilderment. The shock and whispers began to intensify. I could feel them all began to wonder what in the world was going on here. Some of them began to work out that there was something else at work here. Others began to quietly watch, deferring to Father and His seemingly bottomless insight.

I could care less about them though. Back then, to most of the angels I was watching Father silently. In reality, I was busy yelling at Father with my eyes to stop Your damn laughing and just dismiss me already!

He seemed to get my message because after a moment, He stopped. He still looked mirthful though, so I felt tempted to start glowering. I stopped my silent sulking when He looked at me with understanding in His beautiful eyes.

"Raynare, do you understand the path you're walking into? What your future will entail?"

Not a rejection, as most of our audience had expected, but a question. Trepidation began to fill the angels watching us. The whispers died down rather quickly.

I pondered that question seriously, wondering what was up with the mystery-like air that suddenly filled the atmosphere. I mean, Father was basically asking me why I decided to Fall now, right? So why did he had to form the question as if it held some deeply profound wisdom?

In the end, I gave up on understanding Father, shrugged and answered honestly.

"It's precisely because I don't understand the future that I have to walk this path."

That's right. Raynare was supposed to Fall. I do not know her circumstances or what caused her to Fall but I am not her. Even if I bear her name and lived out her existence, I am not Raynare. The Raynare I know would not have done what I did. I couldn't imagine Raynare freely giving overy familiar hugs and smiles to her fellow angels and superiors, she would not have painted black ink and pig oil on the faces of Adam and Eve while they slept, she would not have chat up with Father every seven turns of the Earth, and she definitely would not have vandalized the Ark of the Covenant with Who's on First-style of witty humor and veiled references to the future gaming industry.

That last part had Father laughing for half an hour. It was well worth a decade of Heavenly janitorial service. Thank Father that angels doesn't need to piss or shit.

I had no delusion of maintaining the timeline. I knew that whatever it is I do, I had already changed the future. What and who the Raynare was on the original novel might be is no concern of mine who bears the existence of Raynare right now. I might not need to stab Hyoudou Issei the Sekiryuutei in the future after a false date. Oh, the temptation was there after remembering the antiques of perverts like Azazel. Besides, who knows? Maybe Hyoudou Issei would not even be born in the future.

It's precisely what I said to Father. Heaven is, no insult intended to Father, rather constraining. The moment I was born here I already felt much different to my fellow angels who always seem to have this endless worship to Father. I could understand. It's natural for Children to idolize their Father. Moreso if the Father in question was the very same one who formed the basis of the soon-to-be biggest religion on Earth.

Yet, I do not have the same opinion of Father as the others do the moment I was reborn. Loved him and respected him, sure. Unlike my brothers and sisters though, I do not have that same notion every Children would have that their parent was an invincible, rock solid existence in their life. I recognize the world I was in after hearing His idea for the Sephirot Graal and the future not-yet-named Longinus.

I know of His mortality. I know of His death.

And so, this is the closest thing I need to do as Raynare.

Fall from Heaven, and then forge my own path.

A bit like growing up, I suppose. One had to leave their home to fully mature, and while I'm confident I could beg-I mean, convince Ezekiel for a vacation, Divine surveillance was never to my taste. In the end, if I were to accomplish my goals in this world, freedom was something I desperately needed.

Father must have understood. I had spoken to Him before of my birth, my previous existence, the memories I had of the time before, and what I intended to do in this new life of mine. My independent streak and rebellious nature was the highlight of my previous life in the teenage years. I'm certain that what I feel now is something I inherited from that era. I looked at Him now, a bit of a silent expectation in my eyes.

In response to my answer, Father smiled, and dare I say, almost mischievously. I heard one of the Archangel, probably Michael, inhaled deeply. It was something He always did whenever we had our talk but for some reason it was something He had never showed to others. I wonder why?

Then again, something else felt weird about this setup. Why is every angel watching this show started to give me this odd and strange looks?

"No, you are vaguely aware of it, aren't you?"

Once again, He spoke as if there was something He knows that I and the rest of the angel watching didn't. Then again, it was typical Father. Trying to understand His play on words was an exercise in futility, so I just stayed silent.

Meanwhile, Father somberly nodded, accepting my silence as an answer for... something?

"You would suffer, Raynare."

A statement of fact. A certainty. A decree that could not be denied. The sky is blue, and so it will be made blue. The sun rises and sets by His decree. Such is the power behind the words spoken by Father.

I thought to myself, 'Oh. Well, shit.'

"That path you're going to walk on, is filled with darkness. Even if I knew why you chose this path, and even if I wanted to, I would not help you. Heaven would not offer you respite. Hell would not accept you. Even the other Fallen of my Children would turn you away. Every time you took a step forward, there will always be regret. Every time you look ahead, there will always be death. The only thing you will gain in the end..."

He looked at me in the eye, all trace of His previous smile gone.

"...The only thing you will gain in the end is darkness and despair."

Silence pervaded the courtyard. All angels who were once split between looking at Father or me were now focused entirely on me.

I do not know what expression they wore now but it seems as though the other angels now had turned especially subdued.

As for me, I just furrowed my brows and tilted my head.

Why is He repeating this crap again?

Isn't that what you had already warned me what my life would be once you knew what I was? Isn't that what my life as Your angel would be? Isn't it a sign of how different I was from the others? How the others would see me once they knew the powers I had hidden?

Yes, it was the main source of my consternation. My power. Simply put, it was an aberration. I had read about it a lot on the newest fiction a few years before my death and rebirth, but I never heard something like this existed here. Something far too strange and far too alien for this world. Neither of us even knew where it came from but we both know of its devastating potential.

More importantly, we both know how powerful it'd be in the future and how dangerous it was for this world if I stayed in Heaven wielding said power.

So why was He repeating the warning He'd given me once? Father was not the kind to repeat Himself to His... Children...

Unconsciously, I looked at the line of Archangels. My eyes suddenly caught Gabriel's, worry and concern for me plain on her face. Despite being younger than she was, I really enjoyed acting like her older sister. Seeing her all stern and serious just pricked at me, especially the contrast with how her future self was supposed to be. Getting her all flustered was turning into a really fun hobby.

I smiled. So that's what this is all about.

This was not for me. This was not just about my need of freedom and guaranteeing the safety of Heaven. This is for them.

For my brothers and sisters.

Most of them were barely two millennias. Almost three, I think. It might be a long time for humans, but Heaven was pretty much the definiton of a sheltered life. The angels were not as idle as a fat kid with a hikkikomori lifestyle, but most of us are still pure and innocent, touched only by the tragedy that is the betrayal of Lucifer and the Fallen. They see it as the worst thing to happen to them, yet they still see the world as something honest. They believe that, be it by blood or by the light of forgiveness from Father, our Fallen brothers and sisters would one day be brought to justice.

They were unaware that this tragedy, this series of betrayals, was only the beginning of a long line of conflict that would stain the world that Father loved so much with blood.

I knew better.

It might be a bit arrogant of me to refer to myself as such. However, like it or not, Idoknow better. My previous live was barely a third of a century, but being a lawyer had taught me many things about the darker part of the world. And I didn't like it, not one bit. It was a realization that my brothers and sisters had not understand just yet.

Not all evil was brought about by a desire to sin. Even simple necessity could be the root of the greatest evil.

The first step to teach my innocent brothers and sisters, I repeated what I did in respond to Father's warning that day.

I laughed.

Boldly, loudly, arrogantly.

I once again laughed at the face of God and the dark fate He said I would one day have.

I did not look again at Gabriel's increasingly alarmed look or what the other angel might feel at another disrespect I had shown Father. I put my all into repeating the oath I had sworn to myself once before.

"I know that. I know all of that." I grinned wildly. "The way I live might bring suffering to my life. The way I look upon the world would have made others vomit out their insides. With me being who I am and what I have in my hand, I might live the rest of my life alone. Even the day I die, I would do so alone without a single friend or any family beside me. The only companion I'd found in this wonderful world of yours might be the worms busily eating my corpses."

I paused for a moment, sensing the slight horror and apprehension from the other angels, then I showed Father a beatific smile.

"But I won't give up on walking this path. I won't give up on living this life." There was the same conviction in my voice as I had back then, "It might be hard. No, it will be hard. There might be times when I'd thought of giving up. I might stumble and fall. But, I would always stand back up. Nothing worth doing is ever easy."

Should I add, 'Don't underestimate the spirit of a modern otaku!' like before? No, better skip that. This stuff is embarassing enough as it is.

"Worth, Raynare?" Father shook his head, just like before. Completely ignoring my ad-lib perfectly. "Did I not tell you before? What you're trying to do would not give you anything even if you succeed. You would not gain anything from this. Was not something like that the definition of a worthless effort?"

"I understand, Father." Yes, I understand perfectly. "However, Father, I believe you are incorrect on that matter."

"Oh? Are you saying that I am wrong?"

Soft gaps echoes through the yard. The two of us ignores them.

Brothers and sisters, this is lesson number one.

God is perfect. God is infallible. It was something of a taboo in Heaven to even suggest otherwise. However, just because a bunch of angels insisted that Father was eternal does not make that fact real.

"No, merely a correction. There is no such thing in this world that does not have any meaning." I looked at Father in the eye. "Everything in this world of yours have their own worth. Be it the inhabitants, or the actions they took. Be it a simple grain in the sand, or that tiniest microscom of insect. Nothing in this world is truly worthless."

Lesson number two.

The people that lives in this world, be it humans, devils, fallen angels, or even others of different myths, their lives were not lesser nor greater than our own. All deeds, be it an act of charity or the various sins they committed contains their own value. Nothing is ever truly worthless. In their own unique and special way, everything in the world matters.

Besides, you knew this as well, aren't you Father? You mentioned that it was 'a definiton of a worthless effort', not the fact that 'it truly was a worthless effort'.

Back then. Back when you first understood the nature of my rebirth, You had offered to take my life away, to kill me and prevent me from witnessing my own doom in the far future. A doom brought about my the cruel nature of this power I suddenly have. It was a mercy, I grant You that, but it's really just an unnecessary concern.

"Be that as it may," As if trying to convince me to give up, Father did not let up. "I would not give any exception or clemency to my orders. Even if I understand and accepted the reason of your Fall, the Heavenly Hosts are still obliged to hunt you down. All of us gathered here shall be your enemy. Do you understand this, Raynare?"

"I understand." I really do, letting me go arbitrarily would set a bad precedent. The other angels might started Falling by themselves if He'd let someone He favored to Fall without any consequencces.

"Yet you still persists to walk this path?"

"Father, I did not choose this path to gain anything. Be it Your Grace, love, happiness, glory, or even a family, I was not living this life to gain anything like that." I repeated my lines, and by the slight shift of... something, I could feel all my brothers and sisters listening intently. "It's just that, so long as I live I might happen to find something like that in life. That alone made the path I chose entirely worth it."

Lesson number three.

Father may have created us, but the purpose of our life is not quite so predetermined. Each of us calls Heaven as our home and thus attached ourselves to the rules of Heaven and our Father who created it. There's a bit more to it than that, but I'll save that part for later.

Anyway, it's true that Father's teachings were the best guides if you were to lead a happy life. However, the living beings of this world are not created to be happy. Happiness is simply something that happens in our lives. No matter how great and beautiful a life might be, it's obvious that a joyful and happy life was not all there is to experience in this world.

On the other hand, there is also sadness and misery in this life. It is an inevitability that those that live will definitely encounter the hardships of life. Conversely, no matter how ugly or sad a life might be, it's obvious that sadness and misery was not all there is to experience in this world. This is where Father's teachings will come in handy. It might not be perfect and there will be those who looked at such teachings with scorn, but faith has its own rewards. Even if said faith is one that would be tested again and again everyday.

If one desired to partake in their own version of the greatest delights and pleasures of this world for the sake of more happiness, then you are also free to follow or disregard that rule and do whatever it is you wish with your life. Just remember though that every actions you take will have their own consequences that you have to deal with.

In the end, we are all born in this world to experience life in all its ups and downs.

Father clearly understood all of that.

"I see." He sighed deeply.

Then He smiled, and it hits me with nostalgia. That proud smile of His was the same as the one He had back then as well. It's a bit sad as well. As if He regretted putting such a burden on someone He considered a Child.

"Even if I would lose everything and I would gain nothing in return, I definitely won't regret choosing this path."

I once again stated my conviction. Yes, I won't regret anything. My power might one day brought me ruins, but I would learn to control it, and I can't do it within the Hallowed Halls of Heaven.

I would hurt. I would suffer. I might even die. An unimaginable amount of pain awaited me, and I would be in their company for centuries if not milennia. But I definitely won't regret it.

Father closed His eyes. The entire courtyard was silent.

A few minutes later, after a silence that felt like an eternity, He spoke.

"Thread carefully, Raynare. No path is darker than when your eyes are shut."

I rose up then, my pure white wings furled out. Through the edges, echoes of dark began to color the white of my wings. Just then, I turned around quickly, the blackened wings billowing from behind like a cape.

An obvious dismissal. Not just an end for the conversation but also an end to Raynare's life in Heaven. Understandably, my brothers and sisters were still dead silent.

After all, what exactly should they say? Were they to ask me to stop, they knew that it was a futile task. The resolve in my voice had not wavered in front of Father, so what hope do they have of convincing me to stop? Were they to ask 'why', they knew they would not get a clear answer. The reason was clearly something beyond their knowledge. What else should they say? A congratulation? For leaving Heaven and joining the ranks of the Fallen? For becoming one of the enemy they had to fight one day? Simply absurd.

Would they mock me then? Curse me and hate me? Heh, maybe they would. But I don't think they'd dare do such a thing in front of Father.

Clearly not knowing what to do, feelings all complicated and jumbled up, they opted instead to settle in a stunned silence.

Unconsciously, I smiled. They were truly innocent.

Lesson number four.

Whatever path it is that you choose, make sure you walk forward without any regrets.


	3. Enoch Priory II

It did not take long for me to realize that the pre-historic age of Earth is, in fact, an utter bitch of a place to live in.

So, here I was. A modern man turned ancient fallen angel girl who was only supposed to exist in modern 21th century adult TV entertainment. Embarking on a legendary journey that would last through all of the ages...

..and started the whole thing off by being chased by a bunch of oversized birds.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!"

As previously stated before, I am now flying frantically in the air, being chased by hundreds of... birds. Huge birds. Really, really big birds. The kind that reminds me of that dinosaur thing in Jurassic Park. Except it has black furs, looks more crow-like than reptiles, and instead of a long beak it has razor sharp teeth, and I swear it was ten times bigger than what Spielberg showed in-... Oh Father in Heaven, dodge right!

One thing that I apparently did not know was the simple fact being turned into a Fallen somehow made me unable to cast magic.

The first time I realized that was when I lazily flew around a canyon, looking for a good cave to hole out and a river to fish in peace. Then suddenly I got three pairs of these fuck huge birds crowding my airspace and looking at me with hideous and, maybe, might be, probably, curious eyes like I was a shiny coin on the street.

Any other time, I would have ignored them since I've seen much more glorious beast Father had made. Buuut, I was kinda hungry. And ancient chicken nugget sounds pretty awesome, so I tried casting a light spear.

It frizzled out like a short-circuited lamp you bought on a cheap grocer.

That was my first mistake.

While I stopped in the air and looked at my right hand, trying to figure what was up with my new fallen biology. One of the bird following me looked at the fizzled out sparks and got really, really excited. Before I knew it, it was pressing itself on me, preening rather overly affectionately, and looked at me with its reddish brown eyes that sparkles like 'Hey, hey! Do it again! Do it again!'

Unluckily for me and the bird, I was so terribly annoyed by the sudden interruption to my introspection on my lack of magic that I just reflexively, justifiably and completely accidentally, punched the damn thing with full power on its face.

You see, in my head, there was this perfectly reasonable logic of mine that has been proven and demonstrated many times in Heaven. It's quite simple really. It goes like this, since angels and fallen angels are supernatural beings, ergo we are at least a dozen times stronger than a mere oversized bird that likes sparkly thing. So if I hit this-soon-to-be-fried-chicken thing with full power, its head would have gone splat and quickly separate itself from the body in a glorious gory mess. It's all perfectly logical, am I right?

Well, wrong.

The oversized bird stumbled a bit after I socked its face, curled up its wings to rub the place where I socked it, then it let out a weird cry.

That's where things all gone to hell.

Following the cries of the overly-sensitive-pussy-of-a-bird, the other two of its companions suddenly let out continuous rough caws and started eyeing me like a piece of meat.

Also, the formerly peaceful and quiet canyon was suddenly filled with similar cawings. Big, black wings suddenly filled the outline of the canyon. Before I knew it, there were a shit ton of those birds, flying up in the air, staring at me with hate in their eyes.

I did the only reasonable thing to do left for me to do, that is to say, I screamed and ran like a bitch.

That's how I got here.

Two days, Raynare. Barely two fucking days since I left Heaven, and I'm already in deep shit.

How in the world am I supposed to survive for the next eight thousand years, all the way up to the 21th century where all the good stuff is?

Damn it, is it too late to go back to Heaven here?!

\--0_0--

I hid in a cave.

Well, what else am I supposed to do? My powers were on the fritz. Those giant birds were everywhere on this damned canyon, and the entrance to this part of the cave was too small for those damned birds to get through.

Lucky for me, despite the size of its entrance, the cave itself was expanded pretty large on the inside. Thank Father for that.

The downside of the matter is that, well, I'm stuck in a cave.

The terms "cavemen" was invented in reference to the existence of people that lives in caves during prehistoric times – aka this fucking age I currently lived in – and it implies a backwater level of technology or uncivilized background. The truth of the matter is, the number of prehistoric cavemen in itself was considerably low on the worldwide percentage. Caves are used mostly as temporary or emergency shelters for nomads when they came by, or as a short of 'ancient waste disposal' where they threw away their shit and garbage.

In short, even the so called "cavemen" itself actually hates living in caves.

It's not hard to see why. Caves are cold, damp and dark. They need constant wood source to heat and illuminate. The dampness made the rocks rather slippery and prone to accidents, one slip and a hard knock with the jagged edges of the rocks could kill. There were probably cases of a few cavemen who actually died that way. They also has a tremendous amounts of insects and critters that could be more dangerous than the predators outside. Only the desperate would resort into living in caves for long periods of times, like people hiding from their enemies – like me – or the ones stuck during the periods extreme weather like winters or monsoon. Other than those circumstances, who in the world wants to live in a place like this?

I do, for once.

Those fucking birds aside, living in a cave itself was actually something I've prepared for. The other angels might have hated living in the dark underground but a it's perfect for a former hikkikomori such as I who hates going out in the sun! Secrecy played a major factor, of course. There's a lot of low to mid tier level of detection spells that could be properly countered by having a thick pile of rocks and sands getting in its way. It could also be expanded into a network of tunnel systems for ease of travel. As for the rest of the problems with caves, well, those were mere mortal problems that could be easily solved with magic.

Which leads us back to my previous problem. As in, the fact that I, currently, do not have any magic at my disposal.

Since I've watched Fallens under Azazel fought Uriel's host before, I know for a fact that this must be a temporary condition. But how temporary is this, exactly? Would this magic deprivation ends the next day? The day after that? Father forbid it might last a week.

So in the end, I have no choice but to do this like a bunch of other two-bits mortals. Raynare-chan here finally levels down, coming from a low-class Fallen Angel to Cave Angel, huh. This is a new low, even for me.

My stress level is increasing. Ahhh, I remember this feeling of high blood pressure pounding my skull. The only solution here is to put my stress out to the Bastard who definitely had a hand in this.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn you, shittttttyyyyyyyy Daaaaaad! You put the entrance to the Gate of Heaven to this fucked up place on purpose, didn't youuuuuuuuu?!"

"...The Gate was set on random that day. I have nothing to do with your mess, you brat."

"Father?"

"It's nothing, Gabriel."

Hah. Haah.

...Alright. I'm calm.

I'm fine.

I can do this.

I sighed. Rubbed my head a bit. Picking up a flint from my pocket, I went a bit further inside the cave and found a dried branch from somewhere with something...wriggling inside it?

Oh boy, that's a lot of worms.

I was right. There were hundreds of those things crawling about on the cave grounds and walls. Haven't noticed them before because they didn't crowd around the entrance, must be because they didn't like the sunlight. Not sure about my helminthology, but those worms looked like they're three times the size of what I've seen on the farms in the future or the rare ones that got to my bathrooms and kitchens. Not enough to the size of a small dog, but they're clearly not normal. They looked like someone just dozed them with bug-steroid for shit and giggles.

Big-ass birds and worms. The prehistoric age sure does like them big.

Hmm.

Have to check if they're earthworms or not. And for poison too. Might be useful.

Wait a minute.

Those cocoons on the ceilings of the cave. Are those... silk? Whoa, are these things silkworms? Giant prehistoric silkworms? Oh, wait. Some of the worms wriggling on the ground have some kind of wings on them, except they looked more... boney? Like an incomplete moth, or something?

Man, evolution is complicated.

For now, I picked up the branch and swung the inside horizontally. Too much worms make the woods slippery. Once a bunch of them were thrown out, I flicked the flint to the wood four times, and foila, let there be light.

Now then, let's get to work.

\--0_0--

I finally regained my magic a day after that mess, which was about damn time, I say.

After greatly restraining myself from the joy of flinging light spears to several demonic birds in the name of holy vengeance and righteousness, I instead focused on making my new and temporary home a lot comfier than it had any right to be.

First off, I checked the entire structural integrity of the caves which was thankfully stable. Didn't find that many sinkholes, and I've marked the ones and set up some traps there. Just a bit of covering and you have an instant pitfall traps.

Exploration goes well too. The cave was pretty wide. Almost two or three miles in size, I think. The path within splits into four parts. The first and the second leads to nothing but dead end, but I could probably renovate one of them into my makeshift bedroom. The third one leads to a room with an abundance of limestone and mushrooms there. Doesn't see much use in those, quite frankly. The fourth one leads to a small water pool. Probably one that leads to some kind of an underground reservoir. A bit of sanitation ready, and I'll have a fresh water supply ready.

To keep most of the animals and insects away, I added a few torches on the paths. Of course, there were runes installed on the torches I made so they could stay indefinitely. That reminds me, maybe I need to start making a laboratory on the other empty room on the cave?

I mean, general knowledge and research of the world was definitely not a priority in this age, and aside from Father, most of the supernatural factions here do not have a deep knowledge on future science. While I can't say that I was an expert, I do have a better idea than most on how to conduct the process of scientific research.

Having a photographic memory really helps on recalling small details of my past life that I would have already forgotten otherwise. I finally remembered long forgotten chemistry lessons like the Haber process or that stuff about Ohm I never really got. Never thought I would ever think of this, but I am so glad I was a massive geek in high school.

Well, I only knew the basics out of the textbook, not the practical ones they use for factory production and all those complicated sciences. But then again, everyone starts there, no? If all goes well, then I have about a few thousand years to learn. And I definitely need to get every advantage I can get on the other factions if I need to survive.

Besides, even the magic of this day and age haven't advanced that far to the point that you could teleport here and there with just a few symbols on the floor. All those powers and magic the supernaturals have nowadays are still something used on barely instinctual level. To put it on an RPG level of simplicity, they're all very similar to characters with higher than average stats but with a level one magic or skills in their special ability tab.

...Barring a few exceptions, of course, because there's always an outlier in every theories.

I need to remember. This world might have already existed on millions of years, but its inhabitants – like the angels, demons and humanity – was barely on its infancy. A thousand years have barely passed. Throughout that single millenium, however, none of the ones living in this world have been idle. Be they the supernaturals or humanity, all of them have been walking forward to that future I've seen a lifetime before. Civilizations have only just began.

I need to be ready for that.

For now, let's start heating up the water. I need to make some pots and the limestone might make a good experiment. And then, those fucking birds are next. I had a feeling their furry feathers will make a nice, fluffy pillow.

\--0_0--

It didn't take long for the other Fallen to notice another addition to their fledgling faction. Barely a month I think. And here I thought it would take at half a year. Quite well done for a brand new faction who still had no idea of worldwide intelligence.

I looked upon ten of my fellow Fallen who visited just outside of this simple cave dwelling of mine. There were six of them with one pairs of wings, three of them with six wings, and only one with twelve.

Aeriel. Haniel. Ithuriel. Douma. Hagith. Adoel.

Zafkiel. Asdel. Sahariel.

And the last one was, of course, Azazel.

Hmm... how do I put this? There's something terribly wrong with this lineup. Was it their wary and frowny faces? No, I get that a lot even in Heaven. Was it their messed up and torn down rag of clothes? Well, it's still better then the humans who still wears raw animal hides. Was it the fact that they brought such a large number to deal with a single Fallen? No, that's pretty normal for me too. There's that one time when Gabriel, Michael, Kokabiel and their cohort ganged up on me after I painted some graffiti on Father's Throne.

...this is a conundrum.

While I was thinking, Azazel greeted me simply. So I greeted him simply as well.

"Raynare."

"Hey, Azazel."

Azazel was, as ever, looks handsome as hell. Not gonna deny that. It's probably why original Raynare fell for the guy. Perfectly trimmed goatee, an award winning smile, a model-like figure with perfect muscles that's not too bulky or too toned and fitsjustright. What's not to like from the man?

Well, the man also looks tired. Like,reallytired. His eyes shines with power, but if you ignore the shoddy illusion he puts over it, they were bloodshot, with some black bags underneath it. His posture and stance looked powerful and inspiring, but the slight slouch on his legs betrayed his fatigue. His mouth curled confidently, but the teeth behind it was slightly grinding in frustration.

I looked at him up and down.

Then, I sighed.

"You look like shit." I bluntly stated. "I cooked some fish today. You want some?"

Actually, they looked more like a huge eel with fins. The thing didn't have a jaw, excreted some sort of mucus even when they're dead and was incredibly resistant to fire, which made it really hard as hell to cook. Ancient fishes are weird as hell.

Very fucking delicious though. Roasted the thing with some magic flame, pour a pinch or two of salt water, mixed a few of the mucus from the giant earthworms, and sprinkle a bit of the white lily-like flower that I'm pretty sure were the ancestors of peppermint and garlic.

Best fish I ever had. Maybe I should find a way to preserve the edible ancient animals and ancient spices of prehistorical times and then serve them as a feast to the ignoramus gourmet of the twentieth century. I'm betting I could put several million dollars on a single serving.

Now there's a thought. I'll put that on my to-do-list.

As for Azazel, well, the guy blinked a little. As if the conversation didn't quite go the same way he expected. But the confusion was gone in an instant, then he nodded with a stern expression that reminds me of that time when he stabbed Sachiel in the back.

"...fine. Where is it, Raynare?"

"Inside the cave." I pointed inside my as-of-yet-unfinished party cave. "It's been raining here for a while. Can't have them putting out my bonfire. The rest of my stuff are a bit further in too."

His eyes hardened a bit. And the other fallens looked even more rigid than before.

"Then I'll change my mind. We can talk right here."

I gazed at him with a scowl, frankly annoyed. I offered him one of the best food in the world and he just brushed it off.

I paused for a while to take a look at the other fallen angels. I was so focused on Azazel but I didn't neglect the others. Azazel might be the only one speaking, but he was not the only threat there is.

As expected, they were getting better at this. They still stood behind Azazel, but their formation was slowly spreading out, surrounding me. Adoel and Sahariel was still right behind Azazel, but their palms were closed behind their backs, hiding some sort of spell I assume was a defensive shield magic. Hagith, Douma and Zafkiel was taking position to the sides, with a good spot on my flanks if things get hairy. Asdel, Haniel and Aerys did not make any movements, but there's some kind of a power that's...connectingthem, for a lack of a better word, maybe for some sort of a spell that requires their coordination? Must have been one really heavyweight magic then.

Is he really that wary of me?

Not that I were very much surprised. I sighed, "Get on with it."

"Fine." Azazel stared hard at me. "Raynare, are you really a Fallen Angel?"

I gave him a look.

My black wing was unfurled behind my back.

They stared at it.

"Does that answer your question?"

Of course they recognized it. How could they not? There is some kind of an inborn instinct between angels that lets them recognize whether an angel was 'tainted' or not. Conversely, the same also works for the fallen ones as well.

Whether they were willing to accept it, however, was a different story entirely.

Azazel gritted his teeth. "This must be a trick of some kind."

You know, Azazel, my wings are kinda black. Seriously, it's not like I have a hobby of painting other angel's wing black.

Well, I thought of it as a prank once but Father shut that down quick. The Falling of an angel is a pretty serious issue nowadays. Coloring wings black is just absolutely insensitive. It's like the usual taboo culture of 21st century where it's frowned upon to call black people with the word 'negro' or saying 'yo momma' to a momma's boy.

"It's no trick, Azazel." I rubbed my head a bit. I knew this part is gonna be a headache. "What you see is what you have."

"And so, am I supposed to believe that ourGloriousFather in Heaven..." Azazel growled, the way he called Father sounds suspiciously like sarcasm. "Would so easily let one of His precious daughter leave the Halls of Heaven, just because sheasked?!"

Yes, he would.

Saying it out loud seems like a pretty bad idea though, so I stayed silent.

Ignoring my private thought, Azazel continues his rant, "Did you know what started all of this, Raynare? It's not as much as my lust to beautiful women as it was the chains that Father bound us all with."

Umm... uh, what should I say here?

Far be it from a rant, it somehow turns into a sort of a grand speech.

"All those rules that He'd made. All the lessons of morality and the joy of free will. All of those were nothing but lies! How could we have free will when every one of his angels are bound by every single one of his commands?! How could we have free will when all of our actions are dictated by his whims?!"

Seriously? Is this turning into a speech on liberty versus authority?

Please stop, Azazel.

You might be better at this than John Winthrop but it's not really helping your case when civilization barely knows how to tie its own shoes. Freedom at this point would mean nothing more than tyranny of the masses and the rise of an ochlocracy. There's a reason democracy is a high tier government form in every Civ game. Skipping it all the way down would lead to nothing more than a disaster! You need to follow the tech tree properly!

"Everything He'd made it out to be good and pure, was merely Father's way of caging us all! He wanted us, He wanted all of us angels to be nothing more than His good little soldier! It's the same with the rest of humans." Azazel smiled here. It was not a nice smile. "They had such potentials in them. Even you must have realized it, Raynare, considering the fact that you were the one ordered by God to taught Adam and Eve."

Right, Adam and Eve. Those two were bright students, but teaching them dignity and a sense of shame was a challenge all on its own.

And then, there were the sex talk.

Ahh, I'm getting a headache just remembering it.

If any part of that fuck up gets mentioned in the Bible, I'm torching Heaven to the ground.

"Tell me Raynare." Oblivious to my growing irritation, Azazel continued on, "Did you know what He ordered them to do whenever troubles happened? Whenever a group of human ran out of food. Whenever a flood washed away their huts. Whenever wild beasts they could not defeat with their own two hands appears. Did you know what God told them?"

Of course, I do.

"He told them to hope and pray." Azazel laughed. It was full of anger and resentment and a bunch of other things I shouldn't mention in polite company. "He did not teach them how to forage and till the lands. He did not teach them to create weapons or magics to defend themselves. He told them to hope! And! Pray!"

Oh, Azazel.

"And better yet, He constantly answered those prayers. He gave those who hoped and pray to Him miracles. And thus, those pitiful humans became dependent and constantly sings their praises to Him." Azazel mockingly laughed, "What in all the world was that about?! Why did He not do all on His power to protect His own subjects that had to suffer every day?! He could have turned this world into a utopia, yet why did He chose not to do something like that?"

You idiot.

"That was when it became clear to me." His hands were shaking, "It was clear to me now that He created us as nothing more than an ornament to preach His name with awe. Be it angels or humans. While He watches from above the beautiful and glorious high Heaven, He looks down on His own heir to Earth that has constantly bets their lives to live through a single day! It's like this entire world He made was nothing more than a sandbox for Him to play around with! It makes me absolutely sick!!"

You fucking idiot.

"I wanted to be free!" Azazel yelled, "Free from all those unreasonable expectations and unreasonable rules that restrains all the angels from our emotions. Free from the insane commandments of God that causes this endless suffering in this world. Free to appreciate all the beauty and glory of this world without any limitations. That is why I gathered all the fallen angels and our like-minded humans in Babel! That's why I searched for the entrance of Hell where Father had bound wise Lucifer! All of this, I've done for one, single purpose;"

With a zeal in his eyes that born a hint of madness, Azazel spoke a single word.

"Freedom."

To that, the leader of the Fallen Angel declared.

"I will free everyone in this world from the tyranny of God."

It was a powerful declaration of intent. An inspiring rebellion against the absolute authority of this world.

It was bold, therefore it held a charm on its own. I could see some of the other fallen behind him was nodding in full agreements. There were even some who were crying out in tears. All of them were looking at Azazel with awe.

I ignored them all and started massaging my temple.

"So answer me this, Raynare." Azazel began to solemnly looked at me. "You who were given the Apple of Eden. You who were given God's deeply hidden secrets. You who were once one of God's closest advisor. Explain this to us, o' Angel of Secrets. For what purpose did God order you to Fall? Did God order you to spy on us? Did He make some sort of a plan to bring us down from the inside?" He shook his head. "If so, I am sorry to say, sister. That pain and suffering of your Fall will be worth nothing."

Hey Azazel, you may have assumed that this single twitch in my face was just a facial tic of annoyance, but I actually have a lot I wanted to say right now and I am desperately trying to hold myself back from screaming at you.

Like, what the fucking fuck is up with that ridiculous name?! Angel of Secrets? Is that what the Bible is going to record me with? Wasn't that supposed to be that damned big breast secreta-I mean, Raziel's title?! How in the name of everything that is holy didIend up with that?! The Apple of Eden didn't even have anything that special. It's just a fucking apple! It didn't have some sort of superpower or a bonus of 99 stats to those who ate it! It tasted delicious, but that's it! The rest of that about Heaven's Secret and whatnot was just Samael's bullshitting Adam! I can't believe the rest of Heaven and you morons would fall for it too! Damn it!!

"I will be upfront with you, Raynare. It is certainly true that in Babel we held the policy of acceptance towards every fallen angels no matter what the reason for their Fall might be. However, yours was an exception. There may have been some unclear reason behind your Fall, but God still allowed you to leave Heaven untouched after leaving it behind. That means, you still had His favor. Raynare, you are a danger to the rest of our fallen brethren."

There was a proud, almost mocking smile on Azazel's lips. "Every single one of your movement in Babel will be watched, no messages will be allowed, and very use of magic will be monitored. It might seem rude, but I will even have people watching you sleep. Therefore, once we all get to Babel, I will have you submit without violence to this scrutiny."

Ahh, this headache is increasing in intensity. No, this isn't a headache anymore. It already evolved into a migraine. Where did you get all the experience points from, headache-san? Did you fed on all those grade-A bullshits and gained multiple level ups?

...I get it, I get it. No, I totally get it.

"You certainly have done your job as a leader well, Governor." I rubbed my temple a bit more, then I looked at Azazel in the eye. "Just, answer me this one, Azazel."

Azazel, you...

"Why did you just assume that I will be joining you in Babel?"

And just like that, the absolute confusion was back on the Fallen.

Not Azazel though, he just frowned. As if this was a possibility he had thought of but didn't really pay it much attention because of the low chances it might happen.

It's not unreasonable to assume as such. That place was currently the bastion for all forces that opposes Father and all of Heaven. And for what reason have all those sinners and heretics gathers?

Simple. It was their only way to survive.

Aside from Azazel's fallen angels, there's Lilith's little band of mages – first of Shemhazai's student in the realm of the arcane – and the ordinary human groups like Cain's descendants – who consisted of hisactualdescendants and the exiles of various human tribes who got thrown out because they committed various sins and misdeeds. All of them have made Babel their home, with the Tower of Babel as their main fortress, and are currently building an army to face the might of Heaven.

Other than those group, there's also that bastard currently trapped in Hell. For now, at least. Lucifer is still busy subduing the Devils in Hell. After all, they were originally a race of berserkers with little to no free will. They don't have anything on their mind but mindless violence and their instincts to eat, fuck, and shit. They were meant as nothing more than an animal of below human in reason and acted as the main punishment for the sinners. It doesn't take much of a guess as to who gave them their intelligence and their warlike culture. Their future obsessions with sins and strength must have come after Lucifer finished the Purge and installed the 72 Pillars.

Gilgamesh and Uruk have decided to stay neutral though, which I found really weird since that fuck up with Izbarael. Noah must have gotten through to him then. It's such a shame that Heaven lost him as a believer because Gil was actually a really good king and nothing like the arrogant dick that Nasu portrayed him as.

Anyway, the me right now who chose to not join Babel must have looked like I had a death wish.

"Raynare, what exactly do you mean by that?" Azazel asked. "Even if you do have a..."special" circumstances, you realize that Father would not give you an exception. The mandate of Heaven does not lend itself easily to exceptions. Lone wolves don't tend to last long on their own."

"That's fine." I shrugged. "I know more than most about how Heaven works. I know about Father's methodologies. Hiding and avoiding Heaven's army is simple enough for me."

"We found you rather easily though."

"Only because I let you." I deadpanned, "If I wanted to, nobody could find me."

That was a big fat lie. Azazel does have all his grounds covered. He knows about Demesne of Uriel which acted as Heaven's scrying system and last I heard from the rumor mills, he'd already put countermeasures to it. Judging by how he found me, he'd probably reverse-engineered it as well. What he doesn't know was the fact that it's probably useless when faced against Father's True Eyes. That thing were the closest thing there is to omniscience, it wouldn't surprise me if he was eavesdropping on us right now. That quote about the guy upstairs constantly watching held more truth than anybody else thought.

Then again, Father never really hinted to anyone else about that ability so that quote probably hadn't existed just yet.

"I suppose you do have that advantage." A thoughtful look came upon Azazel, "That still does not explain anything about your Fall."

"That's my own business, Azazel. You were the one who said whatever reasons for our Fall was not important."

"Again. Not when it might threaten all of Babel." He grimly stated, "Call me a hypocrite if you must, but an angel willing to throw away everything and Fall does not exist. We all Fall because we have something we wanted to gain, even if that something was beyond the rules of God. You, however, Fall for a completely different reason entirely."

"When you put it that way, I can't exactly deny that." I crossed my arms , "That doesn't mean I need to explain myself to you though, since I do not have any intention to join Babel."

Not until I'm ready or desperate, anyway. Or Father finally got around to torch it down to the ground. Whichever comes first.

I still kept an eye on the other fallens and they still make no suspicious signs. The ever serious stickler type Adoel was not a surprise at all but it's still kinda weird seeing this bunch all quiet and serious, especially the loudmouths Zafkiel and Douma. In fact, I could see they looked somehow... agitated?

"It doesn't have to be this way, Raynare." Azazel began to get frustrated, "Why can't you realize that you were a victim of His tyranny as well? Why can't you realize that your God was throwing you away?! Whatever orders He gave you that led to your Fall must be-...!"

I cut off the continuation of another of his fervent speech with a laugh.

Oh how childish. How childish indeed Azazel.

"What? An order from Father? That's what you thought led me to my Fall?"

"If not that, then why did you choose to Fall?! God must have pushed you to-...!"

"I'll tell you this, Azazel." I cut him off yet again and smiled, "I do not have any intention to be an obedient sacrificial lamb nor do I have any cause I considered worthy of throwing my entire life for."

"...I don't get it." The leader of Babel admitted with tired eyes, "I really don't understand you, Raynare. Did you really throw everything away for no good reason?"

"I didn't say anything like that, Azazel. You certainly are intelligent, but your judgement are still much too erroneous." I huffed, "I mean, trusting Kokabiel to send you secret information on Heaven? Not a good choice of spy, brother."

Azazel stiffened, and the rest of the fallen tensed up even further.

Of course I know that one was no good from the start. He's the first antagonist of DxD that poses a real threat after all.He was also the only angel that had a well-hidden but increasingly delighted look when Father did not react negatively to my decision to Fall. So when you started babbling too much details on that last meeting I have with Father, the possibility of Kokabiel as your inside man increases.

"Raynare, how did you..."

"Ever since that incursion to Hell with Uriel and Gabriel, Kokabiel has been addicted to that rush of combat where life and death could be decided in an instant." I explained patiently, "The fact that he'd kept being deployed in most of Heaven's skirmish with Babel wouldn't help. The constant restriction Father had imposed on the rest of the angels to prevent too much damage being done on the world must be chaffing him as well."

I got tired of standing and finally sat on a stone right next to the cave. At the corner of my eyes, I could see a slight twitch on Douma's arm because of my movement.

"That one might have been rationalizing it before." I pointed out a possibility, "He'd convince himself that the blood that was spilled for the good of Heaven, but that's a flimsy reasoning at best. A wolf that tasted too much of human blood would soon prefer to hunt humans over ordinary animals. Sooner or later, he'd succumb to that taste just like you succumbed to the beauty of women, Azazel. Someday, Kokabiel would not have anything in his mind except more battle and more bloodshed. He wouldn't even care which side he's on."

Azazel grimaced. Ah, so he had considered it before. Kokabiel's mania for blood is rather well known by certain circles. On the other hand, I also do not doubt that he would still employ Kokabiel whenever he decided to put on a pair of black wings. He'd probably thought he could still use and direct that lover of murder on something that needs killing. Convincing him not to employ someone that would eventually betray him seems fruitless now.

"Is it any wonder then, that the Throne of the Fifth Heaven would some day eventually turn traitor?" I added as a conclusion, "If he still thought that – for some twisted reason – being your personal tattletale would bring a better fate for Heaven at large, possibly including his own brand of "freedom", then he would not even have Fallen right then and there. In a way, Kokabiel is a perfect spy for you."

There were a few minutes of silence as the rest of the fallens digested that tidbit. I just continued to look straight to Azazel's eyes.

"Azazel, can I ask you something?"

Oy, you don't need to look that wary, you know. "What is it?"

"Have you gotten over being thrown out of Heaven yet?"

Judging from Azazel's increasingly cold look and the sudden disdainful glare from the other fallen, it might have been the wrong thing to ask.

Well, fuck you. I don't give a crap anymore.

"And what," Azazel slowly said, his increasingly frosty countenance was accompanied by a pulse of power, "exactly do you mean by that?"

I looked at him.

I looked at each of the fallens here.

Then I sighed, "That attitude of yours is answer enough."

Alright, I had enough of this.

I slowly stood up and silently walked back to my unfinished bat cave.

"...That's it, then?" Azazel slowly asked, "You're really not following us to Babel?"

"I don't have much of an interest in joining a bunch of runaway kids who didn't even ask their parent's permission to leave the house."

For the first time, I truly poured out my modern thought in my complain. The fallens all looked affronted at that, but Azazel looked rather bitter instead.

In lieu of a goodbye, I looked back at my guests and gave them a single truth.

"I need you to remember one thing, Fallen of Babel."

Pay careful attention to this, you runaway brats.

"Just like all of you, I too have Fallen from Heaven out of my own free will."

Unlike you, this little brat have the guts to own up to her own desires.

For now, I have more important matter to deal with than Azazel and his cronies.

Like, how exactly do you make a bed from bird feathers? Do you just pluck them and stuff them into knitted yarns? Ugh, I need to start learning on how to handle those silk.

\--0_0--

A/N: S**o! This is my old story from SB that I recently restarted and now reposted in fanfiction. Do let me know what you think about this.**


	4. Enoch Priory III

A day after Azazel's irritating house visit, I went straight into war.

I swung a spear of light and cut them right through their black wings to the base of their neck, cleanly separating their head from the torso. Their last panicked screams were like music to my ears. Their other friends on the other hand, doesn't take too kindly to the display of violence. They launched themselves at me with a surprisingly fast speed, I could only thank Father for my equally surprising response time since I managed to deploy a light shield in time and blocked their charges. Then, just before I get around to stabbing the bastards that got close, the assholes flew away from my airspace just as fast as they came.

...These fucking birds are tough. Abnormally so. I found out the hard way that the effect of my 'Falling' only shut down my magic for a moment and does not reduce my supernatural strength at all. It's these birds that are just too strong.

I just punched one in the face again and aside from a flinch and a stagger, it definitely did not crack its head like an ordinary normal sized bird. Considering that a single punch of mine was enough to cut down trees, that means these birds have an absurd level of strength. They don't seem to have any resistance whatsoever towards holy magic though, so I could take them evenly in a fight.

At the end of the day, I managed to kill only one of those blasted birds. The other eight just flew away after they squawk and screech at me a few times after they saw the way I butchered one of them. I think these birds have a sort of beastly cunning as well, because they knew clearly when they were at a disadvantage when faced with my magic – even though they outnumbered me – and retreated.

As anyone with a brain could tell, there's definitely something odd with the giant birds in these canyons.

Could it be these birds belong to other supernatural factions in the world? There were tons of legends about giant magical birds. Japan of my past world has the yatagarasu, the representative of the sun, and the karasu tengu, the youkai birds that haunts the mountains. Native Americans also held ravens in high regards as a symbol of approaching danger and messenger of the spirit worlds.

That reminds me, which one are these? Are they ravens, or maybe they're crows? I couldn't tell the difference.

Well, these thing are definitely not magical. I mean, I couldn't sense any magic in them whatsoever. For all I knew they might be a beast that gains too much cunning and intelligence.

...I'm still rather uneasy though. But at the moment, I still have no clue and too little information. Maybe I should held off from turning this bird into dinner?

Eh, fuck it. I need some stress relief after Azazel's rather rude visit. Some meat goes a long way to satisfy a girl's heart.

Although, I have to admit that the visit did not consist only of annoyances. Whether he knew it or not, Azazel gave me a lot of useful info.

After I went back to my cave, I set up the campfire, ignite the wood with magic, cut and peeled the meat of the giant hell bird, attach them to some skewers and began cooking them in the fire. Add a couple pinches of salt to the meat, and a few of those garlic...or something similar to it, still not sure it was garlic. Too spicy for it. Now I just have to wait for them to roast.

Not wanting to waste any time by pointlessly waiting, I lit my arms aflame. And then with the flame as a makeshift chalk, I started using the cave walls to calculate.

With Heaven's extremely tight security, let's assume that Azazel had gotten the information from Kokabiel – at the soonest – two weeks days after my Fall. That means he must have needed two days or three to confirm the information, two days for the meetings and deliberations for Babel's next move on how to approach and/or deal with me, seven days to launch a scan for Azazel's counterfeit of Demesne of Uriel, and another day to assemble an appropriate personnel for the flight. That means the fallens at most had twenty seven days wasted for preparations. Considering he arrived at the end of the month, that means the travel times for a group of fallen angel from here to Babel is approximately three to four days of flight.

An average fallen angel could fly at a speed of 120 km within an hour. A truly dedicated flyers and scouts of fallen angels could fly with that speed continously for 6 hours, interspersed with a three to six hours break. Combine that with the fact that Azazel came by personally – a fact which I found rather stupid considering he could've delegate it to others – that means they must be extra cautious of the usual angel patrols that Michael and Raphael sets up on the outskirt, severely reducing travel speed – to a tenth at the very least.

Judging by the fact that Azazel flew back through the south west of the canyon where the wind blows much faster, the constant monsoon which is definitely out of season around here and made flight more difficult, an abnormally high amount of salt and saline in the river fish suggests the presence of a large body of water connected to the sea, the presence of a pre-evolutionary silkworm that was supposed to be only common in Asia, the possibilities that Azazel might have gotten into a fight – no, not a fight. None of the fallen were sporting any injuries just exhaustion. Azazel must have chosen to go through various alternate routes to avoid Heaven's patrols and other hazards, which means...

Which means that this canyon I lived in is approximately located on the north or north-eastern part of the Dead Sea with the total distance from this location to Babel is more or less 2.500 to 3.500 km. It also fits the geography considering that the weather ecology are still unstable and had not completely recovered from the Great Flood.

Well, at least I have a general idea of where I am. Maybe this place is around the northern part of the future Balkan state? South Russia? No, the Dead Sea is still on top of that. It hasn't receded yet.

Come to think of it, the current Dead Sea is so large that it encompasses three times it's orginal size and extends as far as the Caspian Sea of the modern world, so trying to judge the entire area based on modern geography is extremely hard. This place might not be on the north or north-eastern part of the Dead Sea on modern times. Hell, this place might not evenbea canyon in the next 9.000 years.

Damn it, if I knew getting a read on where I am would be this hard, I would have asked Father for a world map.

What I would give for a satellite GPS.

Mentally yelling at myself for the blunder, I was distracted by this pleasant freshly cooked meat smell from the bird meat. I stopped my calculation and doused the flame in my hand. Time to eat!

While munching through the surprisingly crunchy and delicious bird meat, I still had not stopped my line of thinking.

Speaking of angels and dark side, how about I start working on how to handle whoever got sent down here with a kill order for my head?

Knowing Father, then my most likely angel of death would be Kokabiel and his merry band of murder zealots.

Sending in an Archangel to deal with a low ranked fallen might give the wrong impression to the other angels, so Gabriel and Raphael is definitely out. His fetishes for war and murder aside, Kokabiel was a brilliant warrior among the rank of Hallowed Halls and his place as a leader of the Fifth Heaven – two ranks below Archangels – suits the job much more. While Esabiel or Lazikel – the other angel of the Fifth Heaven with the same rank – might be better in terms of combat power as compared to Kokabiel, my close relations to the two brings greater risk of emotional conflicts. Compared to the two, Kokabiel would be much less conflicted in killing me.

On a more personal observation, there's also the matter of Kokabiel being a traitor. Father had His True Eyes, so there's no way He'd missed that. I even told him as such during one of our sessions – though it does concern me that nothing had really changed.

Others would have thought that being a traitor and an informer for the fallen would mean that Kokabiel could be more likely persuaded to join me as a fallen angel, but that couldn't be farther than the truth. Kokabiel was a bloody angel who shines only when he takes the life of others. Once you set him a target to take down, it'll be difficult – if not outright impossible – to convince that bloodhound to stand down. Maybe if it was Azazel, he could talk Kokabiel down with his charisma and the promise of eternal slaughter. Obviously, I was nowhere as charismatic and there's no way I could promise him that. Thus, there's absolutely no chance for me to talk him down.

Also, Kokabiel completely hates my guts since I tested much of my more 'vicious' pranks on him.

There was this one time when I rigged a spell that caused his holy magic to make fart noises whenever he casted any magic. There's also a time when I found out how easy it was to imitate a Tsunade by using holy magic mixed with tiny bits of electricity to scramble an angel's nervous system. I always got a lot of yelling and more work piled up on me, but making Kokabiel suffers always left me sunny and happy afterwards.

In case that didn't clue you in, that feeling of hate was perfectly mutual.

On the downside, it would also make the bastard even more wary of my traps and tricks.

I don't like to admit this but in every single way I could think of, Kokabiel is practically the perfect angel to hunt me down.

What a pain in the ass.

And as if that wasn't enough of a problem, let's not forget that I also have the Demesne of Uriel to deal with.

Demesne of Uriel was a sort of sensor array that Father had designed in the form of a uniquely decorated pillar installed in the middle of an area of 2 km2 Stonehenge-like circle formation. It has the same basic principle as a sonar pulse, except instead of using sound to propagates detection, it uses holy magic instead. Needless to say it was much safer, much more undetectable and had a far greater range than sonar. At it's maximum output – aka when Father operates it – it could envelops the planet Earth in detection spells and let Him know the locations of every single supernatural being in the entire world.

Of course, it was not an all powerful detection tool. Even though the name Demesne of Uriel made it sounds very awesome, from a practical standpoint it was significantly inferior even when compared to modern satellites.

For one, as the usual characteristic of a sonar, it only gives off pings on a special screen showing the map of a region and not something as specific and modern like a holy-face recognition software or something that ridiculous.

Also, though it's range was powerful, it was fairly easy to block with sufficient amount of magic. A dedicated group of powerful mages or a band of fallen angels could create a barrier that prevents the detection spell to envelop an entire area. Azazel used this method to protect the rest of Babel from detailed observation. Then again, it would end up drawing a huge blank on the picture and would gather more scrutiny. For Babel, this method might be enough but obviously I can't rely on it.

Another of its weakness was its limited amount of usage. To be specific, the Demesne could only emit the sonar-like holy magic wave about fifteen million times before it needs to be recharged for the next three months. The mechanisms of the Demesne made it particularly vulnerable to... well, the closest term I could get is 'magical overheating'.

It's probably one of Father's many smokescreens though. The official excuse of Him granting the device to Uriel was because the device was simply "too weak" to handle continous use of Father's enormous power, and that's why He had decided to lend stewardship of this powerful tool to an Archangel, and Uriel was the most proficient on Utility Magic among the other Archangels – hence its name Demesne of Uriel.

It was likely His intention from the very beginning to grant such a device to Uriel. The design looks as if it was deliberately made to be flawed. Besides, Father has His True Eyes, so obviously He would have no need for a detection device.

I'm not going to claim to know the reason why Father was making such excuses though. It's enough for me to know the specifics of that tool Heaven is going to use and hunt me with.

Thankfully, I timed out my exit from Heaven perfectly. Three days before my Fall, Uriel already used the last 'charge' of the holy-sonar to locate one of Babel's ambush party. A month already passed since then. That means I have at least two more months before the rest of Heaven figured out that I haven't left my hidey hole and run off to Babel.

The other downside was the simple fact that Uriel was, as everyone and their mothers know, not as powerful as Father.

The Archangel could only use the Demesne on a much more limited area of space. I noted that his efficiency with the device extends only around 12% of its maximum range – aka when Father got around to use it for some inexplicable reason – That means his scanning range was around at least 2.28 million miles in radius. The sheer size and range of the emitted of that holy sonar was simply too big to handle. While it may be inferior to modern 21st century satellite tracking system, it was still something absolutely mind-boggling in this day and age. It was the height of foolishness if I thought could found a way around it so simply.

Then again, the fact that it operates the same way as a sonar does give me a bit of a way out...

...Something to think more later, at least.

I put away the meat skewer, threw a bit more wood to the campfire and began cleaning up after my dinner.

After dinner was done and cleaned, I laid down back into my... I wanted to say makeshift bed, but it looks more like a primitive hammock at this state.

Within this dark and damp cave lit with magical fire, I thought back to the fact that I am now somewhere close to the Dead Sea. The remains of that infamous incident everyone and their mothers would know about, be it now or in the modern twenty first century.

...The Great Flood, hm?

Now that one was an especially horrid and fucked up state of affairs.

The incident of the Great Flood was one that would one day be recorded in many mythologies as one of the greatest cataclysm in early history. People would one day call it an evidence of Father's wrath of humanity's sin for defying Him and Father's intention to wipe the slate clean with Earth and most of mankind once they became too sinful to redeem. That was only half the truth though.

It all began with this guy called Methuselah.

Methuselah was actually pretty ordinary as far as descendants of Cain's go. I mean, the man didn't have their usual surly attitude, he largely ignored his own parent's speech of usual hate-on for Heaven and Father, and he was at first pretty content in living as a hunter and a forager.

All those things though was actually pretty incredible when you looked at it from a different context.

While descendants of Cain themselves doesn't have something like a cursed bloodline or an evil murder instinct like many in the modern fantasy books might invent, they still carry the stigma of being born from the seed of the first murderer. It could be said that in this prehistoric era at the dawn of civilization these descendants of Cain were the first among mankind to suffer first hands the effects of prejudice and bigotry.

Whenever there was a bad hunt, the sudden outbreak of a disease, a stillbirth or any other disasters, the people of various tribes would point to one with the blood of Cain as the source of bad luck. Then they would either execute the descendant to "purify" the tribe or if they were feeling particularly merciful, banish the descendant into the wildlands without any tools, food, water or clothes.

There was even one example of a case that goes on even worse. When a horrible stomach disease happens on a tribe in the lowlands who had already "purified" their tribe of any Cain's descendant, the people despaired over this thinking they might have displeased Father in some ways – which needless to say they obviously did with the way they refer to mass murder as purification.

Naturally, rather than thinking logically to self-reflect over how pointless said "purification" was or try to figure out where said disease came from – which, by the way, happens because the water on the river they used were polluted by a bunch of animal dungs upstream – the elders of that tribe suddenly had a glorious epiphany from the "Almighty" that maybe one of their own managed to hid the bloodline of Cain from the others, thus bringing Father's wrath down on their tribe – which is absolutely, completely, and definitely, innocent in every way that matters.

At the end of the week, twelve people died in the ensuing arguments and conflicts, and an innocent seventeen year old girl, not even one of Cain's descendant, was executed for the safety of the other 47 people in the tribe.

Fucking morons.

It was merely hatred for the sake of hatred. The nature of humanity and the trappings of community forced humanity themselves to continually seek someone to blame for the various disasters and obstacles in their lives. So long as they could blame their problems on someone or something else, the hearts of men would gradually ease even though they would likely still be suffering from that very same problem.

Even the other angels could be somewhat guilty of this. Whenever one of the hidden guardian angels gets assigned to one of Cain's descendant, they'd accept the job with a frown and a request to select another target or other angels to pass over the assignment. As far as angels goes, that was equivalent to bitching and moaning about a shit job. Can you imagine? Watching over the descendants of the first murderer was a shit job to these guardian angels whose jobs was to protect especially pious and important humans from the beguilement and seductive influence of other supernatural influence .

Behold, everyone. The dawn of pride and prejudice.

It makes me absolutely sick.

Even Father realized that Him coming down on the Earth to give these idiots a stern scolding would not improve the matter much. A couple of generations after and I'd bet you this extremely delicious meat stick that their descendants would find a way to twist those words to their own convenience and the discrimination would come back again. Unless Father was willing to directly govern humanity as its sole ruler or alter the minds of these morons and physically remove said hatred from their souls, nothing of these hatred would change.

And Father, I knew, would never do such a thing.

After all, hatred is, in its most basic root, a byproduct of free will. And free will is something Father highly values and would never tamper in any direction, be it for good or ill. He'd rather die than to subvert the mind of a single human in such a way.

Because of that, Father valued Methuselah rather highly.

He got recorded in the Bible for being the grandpa of Noah and for being ridiculously long-lived even by the standard of this era, but Methuselah was also so much more than that. Despite being a descendant of Cain, he'd managed to carve out an existence where he and his families were highly respected by the people around him.

In other words, Methuselah was a pioneer. A prophet whose existence equals that of future saints and heroes that endeavors to change the world they thought unfair. It helps that he was a damn good orator and a natural born leader.

Despite all odds, that holy man managed to gather under him two hundred of the wandering tribe in the steppes to live in peace, promising salvation and equality to all of mankind, be they descendants of Abel or Cain. Such great gathering was eventually became known as Methuselah's Million. It's a bit of a misnomer though since the gathering only accounts for at least ten thousand men, women and children.

Still, credits where its due. It was perhaps the first gathering of man with numbers beyond that of a simple tribe. The first step of a nation and a burgeoning civilization in the making.

Naturally, as with most of the brilliant things mankind got themselves into, it got fucked up.

Changes always brings hesitation and fear to those who know not the direction where such change might head to. In that, Methuselah was no different. His apparent skills in leadership and the number of tribes gathered brought fear and discomfort not just among rival tribes and his fellow man, but also the other factions of supernatural – particularly Azazel and his fallen.

Fearing that Methuselah was gathering more men to assist the Heavenly Host in this war of ours, Azazel and his fallen angels began fanning off the flames of doubt about Methuselah and his pro-Cain tendensies. It doesn't help that Methuselah's Million consisted of two hundred tribes, and every group always have their fair share of assholes.

The result was... more than anyone expected, and exactly as I feared.

When the accusations of heresy first came up, Methuselah naively agreed to be held in question by the other tribe elders as a gesture of good faith and because he believed in his own innocence and for Father to help him through this trials just as He had always been.

Methuselah really didn't account for Father being distracted by the first reports of Lucifer starting his own crusade in Hell and for his own pair of guardian angels – Penemue and Eszla – to slack off because they were racist, bigoted jackasses who also refused to acknowledge Methuselah as anything else other than Cain's spawn despite everything he had done.

Every group always have their fair share of assholes, even the Heavenly Host was not an exception tot that fact.

Meanwhile, Azazel secretly started his own cult among the two hundred tribes, began a campaign of magic and hedonism, then being an absolute jackass in general by spreading plague and other sorts of bad luck among the gathering and shifting the blame on Methuselah.

Honestly, it reminds me too much to the case of Salem and its infamous witch trials. Every lawyer worth their salt definitely knows aboutthatparticular fuck up. It all starts with two hyper kids claiming they've been possessed and bewitched. Next thing you know, the entire town went up in a tizzy and suddenly you got dozens of so-called "witches" hanging from a tree.

Salem witch trial was the most infamous case of mass hysteria. A cruel and unrelenting phenomenon of human psychology where the people of a society began to hunt down others of their own kind in order to settle a threat perceived from nothing but rumours and fears. It was also the ultimate warning of egregious religious persecutions as a source of flawed testimony on a trial.

Unlike Salem with their few hundred casualty, when the dam finally broke upon Methuselah's Million the numbers of blood that was shed counted among tens of thousands.

It was the first time in this world that man began to know the greatest height of conflict known as 'war'. Despite everything, it felt rather appropriate that it all began out of fear, hate and paranoia.

Judging by his quick retreat of all Fallen cults and his other assets around Methuselah's domain and his own horrified look recorded by Father's True Eyes, not even Azazel could have expected such vicious firestorm from the sparks he set.

Long story short, Methuselah was brutally tortured and killed. Father was pissed and the Flood happens, erasing everything and everyone in the entire continent aside from Noah and his men. Eszla kills himself out of shame. Penemue Falls out of despair and joined up with Azazel. Noah found wine and – for a decade – embraced his role as the world's first drunkard.

The rest, as they say, is history.


	5. Enoch Priory IV

As usual, I woke up with a headache.

My "pillow" was stuffed with wool skin and feathers but for some reason it still felt too stiff after a long period of time. I don't know why it happens but the logic of 'pillow-logy' still eludes me.

Well, there's always that day when you wake up with a hangover or that particular day when you had to do an all-nighter with more work to be done in the morning, so I was pretty much used to waking up feeling like crap.

Following my morning ritual, I went to the cave stream to get a bit of wash up, got a change of cloth – this one made from bear and tiger skin, grabbed some meat from my makeshift "fridge" – a simple wooden box insulated with ice runes, heated it up with some embers from the campfire and began my breakfast.

Anyway, what's next on my schedule for today?

If I recall, I still need to make a proper silk thread from the silk fibers. As ancient as this age might be, I still consider myself a modern individual with an extravagant taste. I want a quality and stylish clothes, like the Heaven Garb I was forced to discard after my Fall – because any angel worth their salt could easily track its ambient Heavenly energy – and I'm really sick of this crap I'm wearing from a bunch of mixed animal skin.

That means I need to carve out some rocks to make a spindle. Teaching those two was good for something at least; it lets me get some practice back on my knitting. I do have to admit that using whorl-weighted spindles takes a lot of getting used to. It's much harder than I thought, considering my experience on spinning threads of yarn was using my grandpa's old treadle wheel with a foot pedal to make things easier.

Although...

Hmm...

I suppose this era do need a bit of a modernizing.

Thanks to the eidetic memory that all angels are gifted with, I could perfectly recall every single detail of everything I've seen in my past life, even if it was only just a short glimpse. However, I have to admit that I'm really troubled in regards to creating future items.

For one, I'm a bit hesitant because radically rewriting history was not something I wanted to happen if I want that True Heaven of the 21th Century where I can shut myself off in a dark room and play videogames all day.

There's also the part of me that's stumped because I didn't pay much attention to much of these legendary tools that revolutionizes human history.

Printing press? Steam engine? I can recite the whole wikipedia page about those two in verbatim but it's impossible to ask me to build those things. They're usually very complex and needed a specific expertise to design. Even if I've seen what they look like and knew all of their history, that doesn't mean I could make them.

Anyway, the only models of spinning wheels I've seen were my grandfather's spinning jenny, the water-framed one that Lewis Paul made from my readings on the Industrial Revolution, and Gandhi's wooden Charka from his famous picture on non-violent movement in India. The spinning jenny and the water-framed spinning wheel were too complex for me to make at the moment, so that only leaves Gandhi's wooden Charka.

While I didn't much experience in woodworking, it's still a good way to spend the time. From what I could recall from the picture, the design themselves was rather easy to build. It's simple enough that a student at an elementary school student could put together a smaller model using a bunch of ice cream sticks.

It's tedious work, but that's all there is. Once you get the pattern right, it's basically just a wooden heel with a few bits added on.

This is going to be a piece of a cake.

\--0_0--

The spinning wheel exploded.

No, no. It's not my fault. They exploded on their own due to unforeseen circumstances. I'll just have to reiterate that none of this was, in any way, my fault.

Let me backtrack a little bit.

It took me a week of constant failures that left me screaming more than once to finally make the damned thing. I had to use a lot more wood than necessary because I went a bit too far with my use of holy spear and a bunch of binding spell as replacement screws because I'm an idiot who can't understand applied geometry.

Well, I have to admit that, even with my cheating of having a picture of the finished model imprinted inside my head and using magic cheats in general, the spinning wheel was still of an absolutely horrible quality. The wheel was an imbalanced mess, the cut on the wood was sloppily uneven and the connection between the flyer and the bobbin was faulty.

In short, the spinning wheel was an absolute shit. Might be better if I just took up hand-reeling that's in trend right now. Those were extremely simple. For Father's sake, it took me three days to pile up just an ounce of raw silk thread – with questionable quality considering how... wriggly it looks. Ancient Chinese sikweaver – that obviously still does not exist yet – was rumoured to be able to harvest at least twenty ounce of raw silk in less than half a day.

But it still works, so fuck that noise.

The real problem, however, comes when a strand of silk comes into contact with the binding runes I used in the wood to compensate for my lack of screws.

As I've mentioned before, the entire thing suddenly blew up.

No, that's not a normal reaction. Spells don't just blow up for no reason. My utter lack of skill in wood crafting aside, I'm pretty confident with my spells. Hell, I'm probably the strongest angel among the rest of the two-winged rank angels! Granted, I can't threw up high-tier spells and big booms like the rest of angels above my ranks but I've got a bunch of low to mid-tier Utility Spells with a bunch of buff and de-buff effects that's extremely handy if you use it the right way.

And yet, despite my proficiencies, the spell of binding I used on the spinner suddenly failed and blew up once it came into contact with a single strand of silk.

Obviously, it bears further investigation.

So I tested the silk strand a bit by placing it on top a simple lightning rune that gives off small zaps when activated. All of this I set up on the forest far outside of my hidey hole, of course. I was already lucky the first explosion didn't set off a collapse. Temporary home as it might be, I've put in weeks of efforts into making that cave liveable.

The result of that simple test was a bit beyond my expectation.

The entire forest crackled with power. Lightning rages among the trees. There were roars of thunder slamming into the ground with furious power. I could smell the scent of burning ozone from where I fell on my butt to the ground from the sheer force of the explosions.

Hey, hey. No matter how you looked at it, that sort of thing is just plain absurd. It was just a simple electricity spell! A level one sparkly bolt that a newbie mage could get right after they chose the class and start a new game! How on Earth did that beginner spell suddenly turns into this crazy lightning storm like what Gabriel-chan likes to throw around?!!

I looked at the innocuous strands of silk I've gathered from dozens of those strange silkworms.

These strands of smooth and beautiful silk could amplify magic by ridiculous amount.

"...Unbelievable."

This is just plain ridiculous.

With the forest utterly silent once more with the end of the impromptu lightning storm, I felt the beginning another headache forming in my head.

Needless to say, what these strands of silk have done was not impossible. There were countless of natural resources and artifacts around the world that contains powerful magical properties. The Crystal of Grace in Heaven emanates Holy Power in startling amount, Hellfire stones has a ridiculously high Magic Resistance, and don't get me started on the bullshit that is Adamantium and Brionac Ore that could reflect the soul of its surrounding.

Problem is, these things never existed outside of absurd places of power like Yggdrasil, Shangri-La, or our very own Heaven and Hell. So why do they existhereof all damned place? There were no ambience of mana around that indicates the presence of a place of power or a foreign deity. The only thing that made this place special was its close proximity to the center location of the Great Flood. Other than that, this place is just a canyon filled with annoying critters like those damned birds.

Just the mere thought of those birds made me looked up to the sky.

It was a beautiful blue sky, with no birds and few clouds in sight to disturb the picturesque view of nature undisturbed by human nature that would surely pollute them in the future.

They were a clear sky with nothing extraordinary around them, so why does looking at them made me really uneasy?

I don't like this.

I really, really, really don't like this.

"Aaaaaahh?! It's a fallen oneeeeeeeee?!!!"

And that utterly girlish scream didn't make it better.

At some point, a blond girl that looks about ten suddenly appeared at the edge of my vision. She looked like fell down on her butt, yelled and pointed rudely at me, then started leaking some yellow puddle from her bottom while trembling.

I looked at the girl briefly, a stoic face hiding my annoyance. Then I looked back into the sky.

"Father," I said calmly, "I don't know who, where or what divine hellhole suddenly spawned your glorious holy golden ass, but you're still a fucking son of a bitch."

\--0_0--

Someone raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged.

"...That's fair, kid."

\--0_0—

In hindsight, it was obvious that explosions were generally very loud. So it stood to reason that everything in the entire canyon must have heard the damn thing went off.

The fact that this snivelling and trembling little girl of around ten decided to head straight where the big boom came instead of running away from the place speaks poorly of her self-preservation instinct, my expectation of her lifespan is pretty low, and her intelligence must have been incredibly abysmal.

Well, those are just the very fancy way to say that this girl looks like an idiot. Generally, aside from a bunch of exceptional examples, humanity on this age are pretty much like that. So let's start slow here with a simple introduction to stop her from panicking. First, let's ask the little girl what her name is.

"M-M-My name is Le-...N-no, wait! I mean, it's, umm, Keha? A-Alliyah?"

"Hey, the girl over there. Stop squirming over there and just tell me your name."

"H-Hiiiiiiiiiyaaaahhh?! I'm sorry, miss great fallen angel!"

Apparently, it's a bust. The girl's panicking again. Ah, damn it. I can smell that nasty smell of piss. Better back off on the intimidating fallen angel routine.

I forced myself not to sigh and smiled a bit, "I was only asking your name, you know. Why are you thinking about another name?"

She looked at me. A bit hesitant. But the usual business-like smile on my face must have done it's job because the girl slowly started talking.

"...M-Mom said that the Fallen could take your soul if they knew your real name!" Wait, what? "That's why when they ask for a name you need to give them the name of someone you don't like."

Hohoh, I nodded approvingly. Disregarding the ridiculous soul taking part, that's honestly a pretty good advice, mystery mom.

There's no such thing as a True Name magic in this universe but the fallens in Babel are pretty good at finding the people they wanted to find. Those search usually involves the name of the poor sod, which tribe they came from, and the general description of their feature. One good thing about this world is that pictures and photos are not a thing just yet. So unless you have the bad luck of encountering a fallen angel who all have photographic memory in their head, just changing your name and features a bit is enough to go incognito.

Too bad, your daughter is still just a brat, mystery mom.

"Ah, wait." The girl looked surprised. For a moment there, she went silent and looked thoughtful. I hope she realized the utter stupidity she just-... "Oh, oh! My name is Merkha! Yup, Merkha! She's a mean girl who always took my food and stole me clothes. And she always talks about Jatrey taking her as a mate! That's stupid!! "

"And now that Merkha's gonna get her soul taken to damnation, Jatrey's definitely not gonna pick her. Jatrey's the bestest hunter on our camp! He's so smart and I'm so pretty. We matched a lot! He's definitely gonna pick me!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes.

She's hopeless! This fucking brat is an absolutely hopeless idiot! What the hell is this ten year old blonde bimbo brat talking about? Does that mean the blonde bimbo stereotype already exists this far back in 9.000 BC?! Are you shitting me here, Father?!

Hiding my internal scream, I stoically faced the girl swooning about her mid-teen crush.

"So, your name is Merkha?"

"E-ekk?!" Oh, look. She finally realized where she's at and stopped talking about this Jatrey guy. "U-umm, y-yes, miss great fallen. It's Merkha!"

"I see." You had it tough huh, Merkha-chan. The real one that is.

"S-so, umm, eh, w-what are you going to do to Merkha, miss great fallen?"

First of all, I wanted you to stop calling me miss great fallen. What sort of name is that? An idol brand name? Meh, my identity isn't that much of a problem though.

Whatisa problem now though...

I looked back at the center of the explosion, where the runes and the bullshit magic overloading silk was.

No, I shook my head. Not now when I have a human brat to deal with.

A human brat andher tribe, I corrected myself.

"...For now, we need to get you a bath and change of clothes."

"Fweh??"

\--0_0--

Originally, I had wanted to go back to my party cave but letting this girl know where I live sounds like a bad idea. Even if she is kind of an idiot, judging by the cleverness in the advice of 'Merkha'-chan's mystery mom, members of her tribe was probably not as dumb as this one is.

Instead, I took the 'Merkha' girl right up in my arms and flew in the air. There were a few moments at the start where she starts screaming and yelling again, but after that phase is over...

"Wheeeeee! I'm flying! I'm really, really flying here! Look, miss great fallen! Those spear tooths and trumpeted behemoths looks so small from up above!!"

Seriously, what is up with this blonde bimbo and her ridiculous mood swings? You do realize you'll end up splat if I let go of my hands, right?

To stifle my irritation, I slowed down near my destination then I began my dirty work.

"Fuwaaaaah! Wah! W-what are you doing, miss great fallen?! W-w-why are you stripping my clothes?! I-I knew that the fallen in Babel was promiscuous but for another girl to do such thing to me is just too much! What's more in mid-air?!!!!"

"Take a bath, you perverted girl. You stink."

I threw the naked girl 'Merkha' *wink* *wink* down onto the river.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! M-miss great falleeeeeen!!!"

The 'Merkha' girl swallowed some water, surfaced with an effort and sputtered. But she did not resort to harsh insults that were probably already on the tip of her tongue and just sulks a bit. Good. It seems that she still hassomekind of survival instinct, no matter how miniscule it might be.

I landed on the side of the river, and started stretching out her clothes. Looks like its made with the tannings from the leather skin of a mountain goat with triple linings. Standard prehistoric clothes for cold climate tundra. Doesn't really fit considering that this canyon was more on the temperate side. Recent arrivals then. Although, this red hand print on the right shoulders got me curious. A tribal marking? Not one I was familiar with then.

Well, whatever. Without looking at the girl idiot splashing around the water, stealing glances at me nervously and with more than a little bit fear, I formed the light in my palm into a warm fire and began drying the girl's urine drenched clothes. I ignored the short yelp from the 'Merkha' girl and got to work for my next good deed of the day.

What? I can be nice too, you know.

Hah! Yeah, who am I trying to kid? I'm going to use the shit out of this blonde bimbo brat.

"Hey, Merkha." I casually called her.

"Y-yes, miss great fallen?"

"Where are the rest of your tribes?"

Even when I wasn't looking at her, I could just feel her stiffening.

"M-M-Merkha here doesn't have any tribe! I, uh, I'm here all alone! M-Merkha was just,uh, looking for, um, a place to...hunt. Yes! A place to hunt! S-some dangerous beast like the spear tooth from 'efore! B-Because I'm a really good hunter, y'see! Just like Jatrey! He and, um, Bartak, Kitlon, and Masrah. Yup, those three boys! They took to hunt at the northern outlook and I went south alone. I-I'm just that great a hunter, yup! I'm just as good as Jatrey was and he's the best of the best one in me tribe!"

Why are nodding in relief to yourself like that? Was that the best you could come up with? Did you really think you just fooled me with that bare-faced lie?! You do realize you just admitted you have a tribe several times, right? No, you probably don't, you idiot. Just how much do you really like this Jatrey boy, you lovesick moron?

Still with a completely straight face, I let none of my internal rant leaks out and changed tacks.

"How about your parents then? They still around?"

"T-They're, uh, umm," Oh dear, 'Merkha'-chan started getting nervous again. Then her eyes brightened up. Come on girl, you can make a better lie than that. "M-Merkha's parents are all dead. Merkha's lonely little girl with no mother because her mother ran off with an ugly beast and her father killed himself out of shame. M-Merkha is a really pitiful child like that."

Well, I do agree that those tiny-sized brain of yours is indeed really pitiful. Why do you start referring to yourself in third-person? Are you trying to picture Merkha as yourself and yet failed because you're just that lacking in imagination and intelligence in general? If so, then you do realize you just insulted yourself in a really, really roundabout way, right? Ugh, same as before, of course you don't. Just how much do you really hate the real Merkha girl anyway?

Still, that backstory sounded incredibly detailed for a supposedly made up story. Don't tell me that was truly what happened to the real Merkha. Maybe it was just the vindictiveness of a child? I suppose it is possible for this brain-hared little girl to be that unkowingly cruel. Hell, even back at the modern 21st century, kids and children never stopped being a childish monstrosity.

You have my condolences, mystery mom. It must be hard to raise this fucking brat.

"By the way."

"Y-Yesh?!"

"I don't know too much about a human's propriety," Which was a load of bull, I am the sole pinnacle of human propriety in these shitty day and age, "But isn't it considered distasteful for men to peep on a girl taking a bath?"

A bunch of tough, burly looking human warriors I've sensed five minutes ago came out of their hiding places and started pointing their spears and slings at me.

I suppose it went pretty much as I expected.

In these day and age when dangers lurks in every corner, be they in the form of other humans, natural disasters, natural wilderness or just the usual supernatural hazards, it's only reasonable that a nomadic tribe that lasted this long is one that would be able to properly manage their security.

The first and perhaps the most important step is to place a sentry or a lookout.

Knowledge is half the battle, and knowing whatever it was out there that could threaten them is the key for any self-respecting tribe to survive. Was there a group of carnivorous beasts in this place? Any sabertooth tiger or a poisonous lizard? Maybe one of those accursed devils or Babylonian fallens? None? Really? Check again! Still none? Triple check it again!

Basically, it's a primitive tried and true method of keeping an eye out for whatever the fuck is out there, make sure if they/he/she/it is going to kill us or not, assess what the tribe's chances against they/he/she/it if they get into a fight? What about the area around this place? Any food or water? Any natural source of water? A river maybe? Edible plants? Is it important enough or worth the risk to enter the area? Etc etc.

Of course, it's not an exact science since the other side usually have their own tricks. But the oldest warrior there looks like he's in his fifties. That means he's got a lot of experience to lead and direct the tribe against most of the threats that exists in this fucked up world with rival fellow human clans and wild supernatural fuckery.

Since a fallen girl flying high on a canyon with another girl in tow is pretty high up there on supernatural fuckery, and since a single fallen with only two wings could still be defeated by a group of humans with the proper tactics, these brave warriors of the tribe decided to risk a fight in order to rescue one of their own.

In a sense, this was a risk/profit calculation compiled from the gathering of intelligence in order to engage an enemy or not. It was a fairly simple method of warfare that forms the backdrop formation of an army later in the era of kingdoms. It goes to show that this simple showdown is not that much different from modern warfare, isn't it?

Heheh. War, war never changes.

Suck it, Bethesda! This quote is mine now!

Also as I expected, and proving once and for all that for all it's primitivity this is still a DxD universe, a naked as the day she was born 'Merkha'-chan blushed beet red, tried futilely to cover herself with her arms, and screamed just as loud as the explosions in the forest did a moment ago.

I just hope I don't end up doing that kind of fanservice in the future. Nope. Nuh uh. Fuck that shit.


	6. Enoch Priory V

The warriors were all burly, strong, muscle type. Upper-tier for humans sure, but for a Fallen like me, they're not that much of a threat.

Problem is, they definitely knew that as well. They're all carrying amulets with a faint glint of magical power in them. Not really sure what they were, but it's probably something to even out the scales. Something like 1 Strength or 1 Speed, maybe? Still, the power in the amulet doesn't seem to be that powerful. I could still take them head on.

Then there's a woman standing up there on a cliff. One with a rather heavy magical signature. Definitely the main powerhouse of this bunch. One on one, I knew I can take her. But she's not alone up there. There's a bunch of people up there with slings, getting ready to throw some rocks at my face. Annoying and absolutely distracting, which is pretty fatal in a magical throw down because concentration is half the fight. Then with the warriors down here backing her up and stalling me down...

Hmm...

Yup, impossible! I absolutely can't win this one.

Well, not in a straight fight at least. Besides, I was a goddamned lawyer. We don't do straight fights. We cheat like hell and sucks away everything valuable from our foes down to the marrow bones of their future grandbabies. Point is, we're basically a race of real life vampires with a preference for some poor sod's hard earned cash. And you know that one stupid myth about vampires?

They turn into fog.

"Aaaaahhhhh, mooooooooom!!!"

Merkha-chan's scream served as a convenient distraction. The men flinched for a moment. That was enough distraction for me to cast a Light Spear, imbue it with the very simple concept of controlled combustion, and then threw it right in front of the warriors. The result was a wide-ranged and rather thick smoke covering the battlefield.

"What...?!"

"An accursed fog!"

"I cannot see! Where is the blasted Fallen?!"

"Dammit, do not fire! Rock throwers, do not fire!"

Behold, sons of Adam, the might of the Holy Smoke Bomb! Which I totally invented and not shamelessly plagiarize after a video game! Speaking of which, thank you Assassin's Creed. You were a mostly shit game after Ezio died, but some of the stupid stunts you have are ridiculously useful for a low rank angel like me.

The warriors were coughing and panicking at the unfamiliar tactic. The slingers and the mage can't recklessly attack unless they risk friendly fire. One of the warrior accidentally shoved a spear in his comrade's arm, eliciting a scream from his friend that just furthers the panic.

Whoops, that won't do. Negotiations are going to be difficult if one of them ends up dead.

Seeing through the smoke was easy for me, and only for me. After all, the smoke was made from my own Light. It's a poor concealment tactic if the user could not see through the smoke. This makes it rather easy to punch the guy closest to me, strangle another one, and then drop kick another. The point is, beating up the warriors was unbelievably easy and took at most half a minute.

With the smoke still a thick smog, I stretched my wings and flew out of the smoke. Right at the direction of the Mage above the cliff. The lack of visibility serves as a perfect cover for the surprise flying dash attack. Sadly, it was only slightly successful. The woman looked incredibly surprised but her skill and instincts must have been superb because she quickly raised her staff and blocked my punch. Superb by human standard at least, which makes it the equivalent of normal Angel reflexes. And it doesn't translate to super strength either, because the staff broke quickly under the weight of my fist and I followed it up with an uppercut before the Mage could recover her bearings.

"Celica!"

"Mistress Celica, no!"

"Away with you, Fallen whore!"

Look dude, I'm still a virgin.

Credit to the slingers, seeing their leader knocked out to the ground, they still tried to throw their rocks at me. Unfortunately, they just don't have the equipment or the skill to hold me back at close range. This should be ea-...

BANG

..the fuck?

My head felt like it was punched by Gabriel again and I was thrown off from the ledges. I managed to stabilize my fall with my wings, but the slingers clearly wanted me dead and started slinging some green rocks that gave me weird feelings in my angelic senses. Luckily enough, instead of flying back at them like the slingers probably expected me too, I retreated back, letting my wings to glide me backward to the thick smog beneath the cliffs. The projectiles they threw exploded with flames bursting out from the rocks.

You've got to be kidding me. They got incendiaries?!

"We got her! We got the Fallen bitch!"

"Of course not, Royta! Fallens are not that easy to kill! She's still alive down there!"

"She fell down the cliff! She's hiding down in the accursed fog!"

"It's funny because she was fall-..."

"Not the time, Gira! Heal Mistress Celica right now!"

Shit, shit, shit. It's a good thing I managed to knock out the mage first, but I'm still stuck in some seriously bad shit! Who the hell said slings were a crude and simple tool only fit to kill small animals?! Discovery Channel? Matt Graham? It's that damned survivalist, isn't it! This is all Matt Graham's fault! I'll drop you off the shittiest most uninhabited island in the Pacific, you prick! See if you can survive being Crusoe you son of a bitch!

"Mistress Celica, are you alright?"

"She's breathing! She's not dead!"

"She is unconscious. As glad as I am for her health, I do not like our situation."

No, no, wait. Calm down. Think about this. I have one minute, fifty four seconds before the smoke dispersed. Those slingers are not all powerful. They have weaknesses. They have limitations. Analyze.

"Keep your eyes open on anything that comes out of the fog below!"

"Can't we just throw the fire stones on the accursed fog?"

"And risk killing the rest of our brothers?"

"The power of the talisman-..."

"Will not protect an unconscious body. Have you learn nothing, sister?"

First of all, the green rocks. What are they? Primitive incendiary grenades. Not as powerful as the modern ones. It's more like a small, exploding, burning fireworks than anything else. A small, exploding, burning fireworks that almost killed me. I was lucky that first throw missed and only exploded somewhere behind my head. Burnt and singed some of my hair though. Fucking assholes.

A direct hit...no, I take that back. A direct hit probably won't kill me. But it's probably enough to give me a concussion. More hits at the same time would be bad. Primitive it may be, I can't deny that they were horrifyingly effective.

One minute and twelve seconds. Come on, angel brain. Faster.

"Eyes open, brothers and sisters. Do not let the Fallen surprise us a second time."

"Without Celica, even a two winged Fallen is enough to kill us all."

"Not without a fight, brother. The fire rocks the Mistress enchanted might just give us a chance."

"Aye. We'll lose. But at least we'll maim and burn the wings of the bitch."

"And let the Crows-of-the-Canyons feeds on what remains of her. A last stand then."

Incendiary grenades are not that simple to make. What did they made it out of? I closed my eyes, merging myself into the perfect memories recorded by my Angelic nature.

Recall its texture. It was formed rough, vesicular texture with green hue. The color must have been some kind of radioactivity. Nuclear? Of fucking course not, Raynare. Stop daydreaming. It's a lot simpler. More extra-natural in nature. Volcanic rocks?

Recall the smell. Something sharp and metallic. Blood of a magic beast? No, it's fat. I think it's mixed with something odorless, bound by basic nature magic, which was weird enough because at first I didn't sense any magic from the slingers before they started throwing them at me. And this other tangent smell from the combustion... sulphur?!

Geothermal hot springs.

It fits. Volcanic rocks. The sulphur. That odorless gas must have been methane. It's the simplest alkane that is easy to saturate with other carbons. That nature magic must have been some kind of binding agent. Don't know what the magic beast was, but its fat must have been the main primer material to ignite.

Goddamn it, this Celica was too much of a high level bitch! There's no way anyone could just make something like this willy-nilly! And there's no way any of those materials are ordinary. It must have been enhanced just like the magical exploding silk worms in my cave. Fucking shit! What is up with this region and high-grade magical materials?!

Forty seconds. The smoke is receding. Time's running out.

"The fog is thinning!"

"Ready yourself, rock throwers."

"Aim for her arms and wings. It will throw off her aims!"

"Avoid our brothers below if you can! If not, we shall answer the All Highest together!"

Technically, I could throw more Holy Smoke Bombs. They were ridiculously easy to make after all. But that would only make the slingers even more desperate than they were. Desperation and people with primitive fire bombs are not a good combination. And these tribesmen had already proven themselves sufficiently deadly enough to kill even low ranked Fallen angels. I need to find a way to neutralize those rock bombs of theirs so I can-...

...Now wait just a goddamn minute. Why am I focusing too much on their weapon?

I felt like slapping myself in the face because I was so much of a fucking moron. It was obvious, wasn't it? After all, no matter how great or powerful, every weapon always have a single weak point.

The user.

And they already gave me everything I needed to beat them.

What was it you said, miss? 'Keep your eyes open', was it?

Mistake.

I casted another Light Spear. This time, I added more gimmicks to its Light. Then I threw it right on top of me and shielded myself from the inevitable backlash.

"A Light Spear!"

"That toss was weak."

"It just floated right in front of us?"

"No! It's another trick...?!"

The Light Spear exploded on its own after a few seconds accompanied with a much more blinding flash and a more explosive sound. Naturally, the slingers screamed when their eyes and ears were suddenly filled with too much light and noises.

Behold, you bomb happy bastards. I give you my Holy Flash Bang.

The photo-receptor in their eyes should recover in 10 seconds, but that much time is enough to flew up right into their faces and beat them up black and blue. You gotta love those angel strength.

Now do me a favor and stay down, guys. I'm going to need something to fix my hair.

\--0_0—

I was weak.

That fight with the tribesmen really showed me just how fucking inexperienced I was in terms of real life combat. Sure, I compensated with modern tactics, but honestly the fact that I was forced to rely on it just to face a tribe of ordinary humans showed me just how out of depth I was if I were to go up against someone with a higher level. In the grand scheme of things, both I and this group of man were rather inconsequential in the power totem pole of this world. Seriously, how many Gods and Dragons would bother with the technical aspects of a flashbang for a surprise attack when most of them can just turn an entire forest on fire with a breath or drop a lightning to someone's face?

Then again, the fact that I thought of them simply as ordinary humans were ridiculous in the extreme.

I checked the rest of tribesmen's equipment and they were all significantly more advanced than I expected. The pouches of the slingers were enchanted with concealment magic. That's why those goddamned slingers managed to hide the magical traces of their incendiary rocks. The amulets of the warriors contains not only protection against fire but also flame-based strength enhancements. Basically, it absorbed the flames around the body of the warriors and converted it into supernatural strength. That's why the mana signatures from these things were so low, they relied on the fire from the slingers as the source of empowerment instead of magic power infused directly into the amulet. Father almighty, these guys were seriously badass.

The pouch concealment and the low mana signature serves to drop the guard of the enemy by making the warriors and slingers look like easy prey, baiting them out into the open. The slingers at the back acted as both to debuff the enemy and buff their own guys. The warriors wade through the fire and serves as the main damage dealer and keep the opponent contained. These are good, solid strategies to deal with a single monster stupid enough to think themselves superior to human just because they have greater magic and greater strength.

And here I thought the mage Celica was the sole threat in that group.

The fact that Celica could combine her greater magical talents with that horrifyingly effective raid tactics leads me to speculate that nothing good would have happened to me if I had not knocked her down in that surprise attack. Hell, if I had not opened that engagement with a smoke bomb, I would have been just another corpse in the ground.

What was it I thought again? 'Yup, impossible! I absolutely can't win this one'? Fuck, how arrogant was I? Of course these people thought the same! Unlike the frivolous me, they must have faced those impossible odds themselves and thought long and hard on how to even up those odds. I arrogantly thought that I was the only one that would cheat, that I was the only one in the world that would ever thought to cheat.

That's right, that was sloppy. I have forgotten who I was before I become Raynare. Who made those skyscrapers that touches the sky? Who made those flying machines that reaches the moon? Who made the underwater sea that scraped the bottom depth of the ocean? I was far too used to the luxuries in Heaven and the power of my father and siblings that I forgot just how great and terrible humanity was. NGNL Sora said it best, didn't he? 'Because we are weak, we gained the wisdom to achieve the unachievable'. Gah, I can't believe I'm getting real life lessons from an anime character.

"What is it you want, accursed Fallen?"

Cutting off my self-reflection and self-depression moment was Merkha-chan's mama – the mage Celica herself! – and you have got to give her lots of points for that absolute stone cold bitch face on her pretty face.

Then again, all of the tribesmen were surprisingly calm for being tied up and came face to face in front of someone that could break all of their bones in half. Maybe because they constantly face lots of things that could break them in half? This age is rather harsh on weakness and death is painfully familiar.

Merkha was a kid, so she doesn't exactly count. A few of her folks in front of her scooted to her side, enough to cover her from my attention. Rather protective, aren't they?

"Many things that you have." Information for starters. Local geography and Babel's goings on. Then the location of the hot springs where you got them bombs. Well, it won't do to just reveal my hands so simply. "Although how many I take depends on your actions."

"I want nothing to do with the Scions of the Greatest Evil." Celica calmly said.

I can't help it, I laughed. It must have been unnerving to the tribesmen because some of them shivered a bit.

Greatest evil, huh. There was some exaggeration in that. Some of it deserved, and some of it was not.

The Fallen of these days and age tried to truly lived up to the reputation. 'Tried' being the keyword, and maybe the people of this age are still innocent enough to believe that. To kill others was sadly not that rare ever since Cain, but Babel was the first to introduce torture and rape to the world. They invented slavery. They invented heresy. They invented the BDSM and orgies. You know, all those terrible shit.

The thing is, some of what the Fallen did nowadays were not that different from what humanity did to themselves and to each other in the future. Some of them had even surpassed the capacity of what the current Fallen was capable of. The slaves in ancient Egypt. The Greeks. The Mongols. Rome. Attila. The two World Wars. Father help me, do I even need to list them all one by one?

Or maybe all that violence was something that came from the source of evil that was Babel herself. It's all very chicken and egg. Which one came first?

And wasn't that just absolutely hilarious?

"Greatest evil, you said?" I smiled, a bit mockingly. "As if evil was something you need to put into ranks just to highlight how terrible they are."

"Is that not what you are, Fallen?" Celica mockingly replied. "Your kind does nothing but bring devastation. Everything you do brings naught but death and greater evil."

"You really don't want to get into a discussion of faith with me, magus."

"And why is that, Fallen?" The mage Celica, unexpectedly enough, smiled. "Does it remind you of what a failure you are? That your faith was not worth a damn because we humans took the All-Highest's favor?"

I stayed silent, and examined her more closely. She was tense. Resigned. Determined. As if she knew her life was forfeit and she was exchanging it for a higher cause. For her tribesmen.

She's not just provoking me, she's stalling as well. The Fallen likes their torture slow. That means she has a card just in case she was defeated. Something that will come into play at a certain predetermined moment soon enough. It was the tribesmen that gave away the game. They didn't say a word, but their eyes screamed vengeance. They think Celica is going to die, but they also think they still have a chance to kill me. If not, then despair or resignation would have been a far more common reaction.

"Was it because of power?" Celica tried, again. This time her tension was far more visible. "Or maybe it was pleasure. Did Azazel the Thrice Damned promised you that you'd make a good whore for his studs? The filth of your bottom must have been so great that the All-Highest God no longer consider you worthy to sat on His holiest seat in Heaven."

I eyed her carefully while she continued to string out all of her insults at me. Celica clearly needs more training at trash talk, the 'ye olde' way she phrased her words only serve to make me feel more and more amused. And more and more wary, as well. Now those were a hell of a provocation. In this age, the other Fallen would have pounced on her by now just for talking about Father, not to mention talking about Heaven. Then she talked shit about Azazel and that was one hell of a no-no. She was invoking one hell of a taboo. By now, the other Fallen would have grabbed her hair, yell out some profanities, promise her a most painful death, cut her up a bit, break a few bones, maybe some maiming just in case, then they'll gave her the "Lilith's Course" because of course only that whore would come up with that. Damn Slaaneshi bitch.

She went on for a full minute. I continue to look at her. I did not reply.

Celica finally stopped at the forty seven second, and I suppose it was about time she felt that something felt wrong. I turned to look at the fading sun and said nothing, only breathing out. The red shade covering this canyon made it looked bloodier than it was.

Her trepidation finally spreads through the tribesmen as well. The silence I offered in return of their leader's insults managed to cut deeper into their fear. It was something I learn whenever I speak with a client. Silence can be far more damning than anger. Anger came and anger goes. Silence offered nothing and it lasts forever. Every rational mind subconsciously feared silence, and sought to fill it with voice. Why else do you think that we were given a mouth and the ability to speak?

I let the silence fill the world for one more minute. Celica and her tribesmen did not speak. They did not dare to.

Then I stood up. An action that seemed to shock them. I formed a Light Spear and the tribe of men tensed once more. What I did next surprised them even more.

I cut off their bindings.

"W-What?!"

"Huh?"

"What is this...?"

As expected, the gathered tribesmen were dumbfounded. Celica, as well, was astonished. Although her face quickly morphed into suspicion. And... recognition?

"You... Who are you?"

Ah, she had heard the rumors then. Good.

I looked at her and smiled. I do not bother with any explanations. Instead I said, "Down by the river, there's a patch of wood that was burned by lightning. I'll see you there in two days."

Then I turned my back against the tribesmen and flew away.

I was not lying. I wanted a lot of their stuff. Sure, I could just kill them and take their stuff, but their loot is not that important compared to Kokabiel's death squad that is coming after me. And torture was out of the question. Not because of my morals, mind you, rather because I was an amateur that never tried it before, and I was likely to be terrible at it. So I stick with what I know best. Negotiations.

Any discussion between a Fallen Angel and a tribe of human who worship Father in this age is always going to end terribly, either with a betrayal or an outright refusal. But that was only because of the inherent lack of trust between the two.

What I need to do right now is to draw their interest.

I succeeded at that. I showed that I was the superior party by kicking their ass – although, it was a bit too close for my tastes. Then, I freed them with no explanations whatsoever. Showing that, somehow, I was different that the other Fallen that the tribe had met before. It was good enough to spread the rumors about this 'weird Fallen they lost to', and the smart ones will be able to connect that to the other recent rumors about this 'crazy Fallen that walked out of Heaven'.

A bit more of a complication than I had hoped. For now, let's just be happy that I managed to return a lost girl back into her family.

That was what I wanted to do from the very beginning. Everything else that comes after that was just a bonus.


	7. Interlude: The Broken Man

Elder Rarta wondered to himself if killing his daughter, unrelated to his line though she may be, might be considered a Sacrilege of Cain.

"It was not the providence of the All Highest that we survived." Celica growled at him, "The Fallen had spared us."

"A likely story." Rarta privately agreed, but agreeing would not dissuade her from this foolishness. "It might simply be that the Fallen had chosen not to kill you because she seeks to use our People for her evil cause."

"And what cause might that be?" Celica retorted, stubborn as ever. "This is not Babel the Corrupt. This is the Crow-Cursed-Canyon. The Fallen has no power here."

Rarta gritted his teeth and the elders grumbled. He had to concede that point.

The ancestors had made it a tradition a few generations ago to form a gathering of every member of the People every time they face a grave threat. In his own cycles of seasons, the gathering had happened far too often for his liking. His People had ran into and survived one crisis after another. From the Plague of Red, to the Beasts of Dawn or even to the Raids of Batara. They had survived and endured.

Rarta had even led the attack on one of Babel's barbarian followers when they took one of their own. An endeavor that ended to great success, with enormous bounty taken and many slaves taken and adopted as new members of the People. It was one of the rare success of mere mortals overcoming the impossible, and Rarta was all the more proud for it.

Yet was it not Pride that led to the first downfall? Just as it was for the First of the Fallen, that same sin had led him and his people to their own doom. Rarta's success and his People's newfound prosperity brought the unwanted attention from Azazel the Accursed. And with it, comes the hordes of black wings and dark souls.

He closed his eyes, suppressing his rage and his loss.

There were days where he had wanted to forget, yet he is now the Eldest of the Tribe. It was his duty to remember. For if he forgot, then who is to guide the People to avoid the mistakes of their ancestors?

A few breaths calms his heart. For as much as he loved her, Celica Ragewater was as impulsive as her deed-name. The tempestuousness of youth was not a sin, it was simply another passage of growth, however right now such behavior presents a clear danger to the People.

To deal with the Fallen is to court death and damnation. No good would ever come of it.

Such sentiment was not rare as Wima, a rather belligerent youth with an irritating fondness for Uruk's hops, shouted, "What of Azazel the Accursed? We saw him and his black flocks several moonnights ago!"

"And they left just as quickly." Elder Mir sighed. "Even one such as he would be wary to linger in a place such as these."

Elder Mir was a scribe-slave of Babel twenty five cycles ago. Of the People, she knew the Fallen and their secrets the best and was one of the wisest of the People in her ability to read the land and the whims of nature.

"That does bear the questions," Celica sternly added, "of why this strange Fallen decided to settle in this land."

Nobody speaks at that. They all knew why they hesitated. His daughter stared at Rarta with her usual poise, and the Eldest of the People found himself having to restrain his anger once more. The Ragewater was not a liar and Rarta would have severed the tongue of anyone who thought otherwise, yet the truth she had brought back to the People were as strange and intriguing as it was dangerous and unfathomable.

"If this Fallen is truly who we think she is," Elder Mir said with great reluctance. "Then it is all the more necessary to accept her invitation."

The others at the gathering murmured at that.

"Was it truly her?"

"The Mentor herself."

"Highest have mercy."

All the seers and wise men around the world had received the Divine Providence. They speak of the Fall of another Heaven's Messengers. Another grievous blow from the First of the Fallen, who even now weave dark plots from beyond this world.

Yet, instead of the the debilitating grief and the great sorrow of the All Highest that permeates all of the other Providence of a Messenger's Fall. The message was instead tinged with mild disappointment and... strangely enough, exasperation. As if the disobedience was expected of her from the very beginning, instead of the treachery it was supposed to be. Things were further muddled by the revelation of who the Fallen in question was.

Raynare. The Angel of Secrets. The Apple of Eden and the Mentor of the Hallowed Ancestors themselves.

Those titles were meant to be something of great weight, but such a thing means nothing to Rarta. Her abandonment of the All Highest was the greatest sin she could have done. Once you turn away from the Light, the Dark is all you have.

But her name and deeds lends itself to such a reputation that her Fall had spread doubt among the others. Even Alit the Seer was hesitant to condemn her, simply because her vision told her of a strange circumstances around her Fall.

Lies and curses must have plagued her visions, of course. As if the All Highest would allow such a travesty to go unpunished. Yet the madness was spreading, and Rarta was powerless to stop it.

The Elder once known as Brightlance looked at his bickering People. Doubt and desperation colored their arguments.

Truth be told, even if the People were lacking in food and supplies, he could still convince the People to ignore the Fallen and their seductive wiles. After all, everyone knew that everything given by the Fallen was poison.

The Crows that calls this canyon home, however, were another matter entirely. These monstrosities bears the same black wings as the Fallen. They were clearly not fond of intruders, yet even Rarta paled at their ways. He had lead his People through the barbaric Lowlands and he had never seen such repulsive creatures. They are as accursed as the Fallen were. Perhaps even more than that, for their similar kin does not prevent them from fighting, killing and feasting upon one another. Those with black wings are truly vicious beasts, one and all.

Celica was especially vehement that they at the very least explore what the Fallen's intentions were, especially after her own daughter was taken and has been deemed unclean.

Though her innocence were not taken, the excitement the precocious little thing had of the mysterious Fallen and her wish to fly with her again had brought the Elders great concern. No magic befuddled her mind, however, thus it was decided that isolation would do her some good. Let time bleed out the Fallen's influence. Celica's concern of the Fallen was justified, though the reasoning of it still eludes him.

Was it vengeance, desperation or simple curiosity that drove her now? Rarta was uncertain. Another matter to watch out for.

Elder Rarta closed his eyes. Whatever the truth of her, this Fallen had weaved her schemes well. He knew without a doubt that his People would agree to her foul invitation, madness though it may be. But no matter how he thought of it, he could not see a way to convince his People away from it.

Unless drastic measures was taken.

Rarta shook off the insanity as soon as it came. He is no Cain. To slay one's kin is to be a slave of the First of the Fallen. Better the entire People to die of endless hunger than to lead brothers against brothers.

He had no other choice. To survive, his People has to step into the Fallen's own trap. And wasn't that what he was good at? Mir Roughfingers knew best the ways of Babel, yet Rarta knew best the treachery of the Fallen.

He had once cut off his own foot to escape their trap. He'd do it for his People, if needed.

**A/N: I just browsed through my own stories that I wrote so, so, so long ago. God, they were so terrible and cringeworthy that I just want to delete them and erase that dark history from the internet. **

**Then again, as a complete attention whore, the amount of reviews they've gotten me were surprisingly decent. Should I keep it or throw it all away. Ugh, the dilemma. Just consider all works of mine in fanfiction . net . to be dead and gone.**

**Except for this one, obviously. Let's see if I can get this story through 50+ chapters or so. It'll make a great training for writing.**

**Anyway, the chapter. Not really happy with it, but it's what I have. Reviews and comments and critiques as you will.  
**


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